THE MERGANSERS. 



59 



reddish-brown. Total length, 27 inches; cuhiien, 2*3; wing, 

 ii'2 ; tail, 4'2 ; tarsus, 2"o. 



Adult Female. — Different from the male. Above slaty-grey, 

 with dusky-blackish shaft-stripes to the feathers, the grey ex- 

 tending up the hind-neck, the head, crest, and upper neck 

 being rufous, rather browner on the crown ; the chin and 

 upper throat white ; the under surface of the body from the 

 lower throat downwards white, washed with slaty-grey on the 

 sides of the body, the flank-feathers being mottled with grey 

 bars; wing-coverts grey, like the back; the greater coverts 

 tipped with white, before which is a sub-terminal shade of 

 black ; quills as in the male, but the secondaries white with a 

 concealed dusky base, the inner secondaries grey, like the 

 back ; tail dark slaty-grey ; bill and feet c loured as in the 

 male, but rather duller. Total length, 24 inches; culmen, 1-9; 

 wing, 9*4; tail, s'^ ) tarsus, 17. 



Young Males. — Resemble the old females, but may generally 

 be distinguished by the appearance of a few black feathers on 

 the white chin or on the lower throat. One specimen in the 

 British Museum shows distinct traces of wavy vermiculations 

 on the flank-feathers. 



Range in Great Britain. — This species is chiefly a winter visitor 

 of the coasts of the British Islands. It breeds, however, in the 

 Highlands of Scotland. In Ireland, as in most parts of England, 

 it is only noted as a winter visitor. 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Goosander is a Pakx- 

 arctic species, and breeds in the north of Europe through 

 Siberia to the Pacific, nesting in suitable localities even in 

 Central Europe and in the Ural and Volga districts, while it 

 is also found breeding in certain parts of Switzerland. In 

 winter it visits most of the Atlantic coasts of Europe, the 

 Mediterranean, and the inland waters of South-eastern Europe 

 and the Caspian. At the same season it wanders to Japan 

 and China. In North America it is represented by an allied 

 species, M. americaiiiis (Cass.), while the Goosander of 

 Central Asia and the Himalay s is considered by Count 

 Salvadori to be a distinct species, M. comatus. This is a 

 smaller bird, with a prominent crest formed of the long and 



