ANAT1D.«. 



459 



THE GOOSANDER. 



Mergus merganser, Linnaeus. 



This species, the largest of the British Mergansers or 'Saw-bills,' 

 is chiefly a visitor to our estuaries and fresh-water lakes during the 

 cold season ; but of late years it has been found breeding in Suther- 

 land, Argyll, Perthshire, and elsewhere in the Highlands. In the 

 Shetlands it is rare, even in winter, and confirmation of Saxby's 

 assertion that it is of regular occurrence in the Orkneys is desirable ; 

 while the investigations of many competent ornithologists cast great 

 doubt upon the report of its nesting in the Outer Hebrides On 

 both sides of the mainland it is tolerably frequent, and, passing 

 southward, we find it more abundant than the Red-breasted Mer- 

 ganser in some parts of the east of England ; but its appearance in 

 the Channel is somewhat irregular, and on the west coast it is com- 

 paratively uncommon. To Ireland it is only a somewhat rare winter- 

 visitor, though during the severe frost of January iSSi it was e.xcep- 

 tionally numerous. 



The Goosander is seldom seen in the Ereroes, but breeds and is 

 said to be resident in Iceland, though not yet recorded from Green- 

 land. It is common throughout the summer in Scandinavia, Finland, 

 and Northern Russia down to the Ural and Central Volga districts ; 

 and nests sparingly in hollow trees where the forests come down 

 to the water in Denmark, as well as in the north-eastern provinces of 



