WATER BIRDS. 223 
incessantly, but the following morning they had dis- 
appeared, 
One or two pairs have occasionally abandoned their 
northern visit and remained with us to breed, choosing 
the long grass and rushes on the banks of the lake in 
which to place their nest. They have also been known 
to breed at Osberton. 
In 1849 a small party visited a large pond in Colwick 
Park, near Nottingham, where they remained for several 
weeks, mingling in a friendly manner with some domestic 
ducks, and evincing little shyness, although the pond was 
close to the house. 
The Golden-eyed Garrot (A. clangula) is generally 
amongst our winter visitors, though we cannot reckon 
on its regular arrival. In the winter of 1860 six or seven 
individuals frequented Thoresby Lake, and remained a 
few weeks; and through the winter of 1863 they were 
unusually plentiful. 
Another handsome stranger is the Smew (Mergus 
albellus), which occasionally favours us with a visit. 
Several frequented the same water for a short time in 
February, 1855; and again, in 1860, I saw a pair on the 
same day I noticed the golden-eye. Five or six were 
also seen on the Trent in the winter of 1849, and several 
of these were shot; but it is only in hard wintérs that 
they come so far inland. 
The smew shows wonderful activity in the water, 
diving on the slightest alarm ; and I have been much 
astonished at the immense distance which it will pass 
under water. 
Unlike the smew, the Goosander (M. merganser) 
regularly frequents the lakes in the parks, and in some 
years in considerable numbers, arriving about the end 
