6o Allen's naturalist's library. 



attenuated feathers of the hind-part of the head. The female 

 is even more distinct than the male, and has the head of a dull 

 pale rufous-colour, instead of chestnut, ^Yith some grey on the 

 fore-part of the crown. 



Habits. — The Goosander breeds rather early for a northern 

 bird, the eggs being laid at the end of April in Denmark, but 

 in some northern localities they are found from the middle of 

 May to the middle of June. 



Of its habits Mr. Seebohn writes : — "The backward position 

 of the legs of the Goosander makes it look something like a 

 Cormorant on the ground, and causes it to walk clumsily, but en- 

 ables it to dive with facility and swim with ease, whilst its long 

 wings give it great power of flight. It is said that it can remain 

 for two minutes under water, and it sometimes reappears at a 

 distance of fifty paces from the place where it plunged below 

 the surface. It feeds almost entirely on fish, which its serrated 

 jaws enable it to grasp with certainty, and it has been known 

 to capture examples nearly six inches long. Water-insects and 

 molkiscs, and sometimes the remains of aquatic vegetation, 

 are also found in its stomach. The Goosander is less of a 

 marine Duck than most of the Diving Ducks, and appears to 

 prefer rivers and small lakes to the sea-coast. It resembles 

 the Diving Ducks in having a harsh note, not unlike the 

 syllables karr-karr. The Goosander loves wild country, a 

 combination of forest, swamp, river, and rock, such as is 

 usually to be found near the Arctic Circle or near the northern 

 limit of the pine-regions of lofty mountain-ranges farther 

 south." 



Nest. — Mr. Robert Read writes to me: — "Near Glasgow, in 

 winter, I have counted over twenty Goosanders on a fresh-water 

 loch, and have strong reasons for believing that the species 

 may have bred there. A nest which I found in Perthshire 

 was in the head of a hollow wych-elm tree in a steep wood 

 sloping down to a large fresh-water loch. It contained twelve 

 eggs of a huffish tint, the last laid being much paler than the 

 others. It consisted simply of a mass of down of a pale 

 lavender-colour, almost white, with which was mixed up a lot 

 of chips and fine particles of rotten wood." 



Mr. Scebohm further writes : — " The pale grey down of the 



