626 BRITISH BIRDS. 



coverts extend beyond^ and entirely hide^ the black bases, whilst in the 

 American form they fall short of them, and thus leave the narrow black 

 bar alluded to. The New-World form breeds across North America from 

 about lat. 4.2° up to the limit of forest-growth, and in winter is met with 

 in most parts of the United States. It has also occurred in the Bermudas. 



The typical form of the Goosander is a resident in Iceland, but is only 

 an accidental straggler to the Faroes. It breeds throughout Scandinavia, 

 but is only a summer visitor north of the Arctic circle. Further to the 

 east it is a summer visitor to Pomerania, and across Russia and Siberia as 

 far north as the Arctic circle, and as far south as lat. 50°. South of this 

 line it finds a similar climate on the mountains of Turkestan and in the 

 Himalayas, where it breeds at an elevation of ten thousand feet. It 

 winters in Central and Southern Europe, very rarely in North-west Africa, 

 and in Turkestan, Mongolia, China, and Japan. The Himalayan birds 

 descend into the valleys in winter, but do not migrate as far as Central or 

 Southern India. 



The backward position of the legs of the Goosander makes it look some- 

 thing like a Cormorant on the ground, and causes it to walk clumsily, but 

 enables 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 

 underwater, and 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 

 mollusks, 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 further south. 



The pale grey down of the Goosander points it out at once as one of the 

 few species of Ducks which breed in holes, those which breed in the open 

 having always dark down. The favourite nesting-place of the Goosander 

 is in a hollow tree-trunk ; but in localities where such sites are not plentiful 

 it shows considerable fertility of resource and capability of adaptation to 

 circumstances in choosing the best substitute. On these occasions, how- 

 ever, it often displays more wit than wisdom. As the House-Martin has 

 discovered that under the eaves of a roof a better shelter for its nest is to 

 be found than under an overhanging cliff, so the Goosander immediately 

 avails itself of the wooden boxes which the Finns fasten up in the trees to 

 tempt them. These boxes, or "IxoWox," are made with a trap-door behind. 



