MERGANSER MERGANSER ORIENTALIS 325 



Some time after this was written, Mr. Finn was talking to me 

 about this same Goosander, and he observed to me that the attitude 

 of the bird on the completion of his meal was undoubtedly 

 rather pensive, and he wore a rather strained look about his face, 

 as if he knew he had reached the limit of his carrying capacity. 

 Dr. Moore, of the Planters' Stores in Dibrugarh, took fourteen fish, 

 weighing 9 ozs., from the crop of a male, and on another occasion I 

 extracted 8 ozs. of fish from a male which had, when first wounded, 

 already thrown up some. 



The cry with which the Goosander is generally credited is a croak, 

 by no means musical or soft, but Booth describes the note of the 

 female and young as being a soft plaintive whistle. 



The only note I have heard was a low guttural quack, uttered 

 both by males and females, and by the latter, only, a low, plaintive, 

 half-hiss, half- whistle. I spent several days on the Subansiri Eiver, 

 which I devoted entirely to obtaining specimens of the Goosander, 

 and they undoubtedly gave me as good sport and as careful stalking 

 as I could wish for, my best day only giving me seven birds brought 

 to book. 



Dawn found me on the river in a dug-out, and the cormorants 

 were then already passing in huge flights down to their feeding- 

 grounds, but the Goosanders did not commence to flight until about 

 half-an-hour after the first streaks of daylight appeared. The first 

 flight was a small one of half-a-dozen birds, which passed well out 

 of shot, but these were at once followed by a flight of nearly 100 

 birds in a long line which stretched nearly half across the stream, 

 and the nearest of these appearing to be within shot, I let drive 

 and dropped two. One, dead, fell almost into the boat, but the 

 other, only wounded, fell with a splash 100 yards away, and at 

 once dived. Paddling as hard as they could, the boatmen took me 

 to the spot in a very few seconds, but as we arrived there, the snake- 

 like head of the Goosander showed from the water nearly as far 

 away as before. The former procedure was again carried out, and 

 again with the same result, and nearly a half-hour's chase had been 

 kept up before I got a snap-shot at the bird as it showed above water. 

 Although again hit, it was not yet done for, but it was getting 

 e.Khausted, and very soon gave me a fair shot which finished it off. 



