MERGANSER MERGANSER ORIENTALIS 323 



equal the Smew in this respect. It is, however, only as a last 

 resource that he takes wing, for, though once well up and away 

 his flight is fairly strong and comparatively swift, he takes long to 

 rise off the water and a long time to get properly under way. In 

 India, as a matter of fact, I consider that the flight of the Goosander, 

 unless he is frightened, is decidedly not swift, though when shot at 

 he can get up a fair pace. The birds rise very obliquely, spattering 

 along the top of the water some yards before clearing it, 

 and even then going some further distance before mounting well 

 into the air and into full flight. Their mode of starting is very 

 similar to that of cormorants and divers, but once fairly started, their 

 flight is then swifter than that of either of those birds, although, 

 as already noted, unless they are actually frightened it is by no 

 means quick. Swimming about undisturbed and with no particular 

 object in view, they float with aliout one-third to half their bodies 

 exposed, but they can sink themselves at will, and Hume says that, 

 especially when swimming against stream, they sink very deep, 

 as do cormorants, and that when ironuded and pursued, they never 

 show more than their heads and necks out of water. This is so, 

 as I saw repeatedly in the Subansiri and other rivers of Assam ; 

 but this mode of swimming did not seem to be resorted to unless 

 the birds were wounded or frightened. 



As a rule, all over its wide habitat, it is more common to 

 meet the Goosander in quite small flocks of a dozen or so, or 

 varying from half-a-dozen to a couple of dozen, whilst single birds 

 and pairs are often seen. Sometimes, however, they go in far 

 larger flocks. Cripps writes : — 



In the Western Dooars I have seen numbers of the species in 

 flocks of from fifty to two hundred." 



One or two other authors have noted large flocks, but, except 

 Cripps, all Indian observers seem to concur in considering very small 

 flocks to be the rule in India. On the Irrawaddy, Oates speaks of 

 meeting them in small parties numbering six or fctcar individuals. 

 A note sent me by Mr. S., of the Civil Service, from Darbhanga, 

 mentions only seeing comparatively small flocks. My own experi- 

 ence has been that about a dozen birds are most often found in 



