GOOSANDER. 627 



so tliat tlie peasant may daily rob tlic ncst^ and thus make the too-confiding 

 bird lay a score or more eggs before the wary man thinks it prudent to 

 cease his depredations, and allow the Goosander to sit upon the rest for 

 fear of spoiling his next year's harvest. If these boxes be not provided, 

 and no hollow trees are available, the Goosander finds a hole under a rock 

 or a cleft in the cliff, and has been known to utilize the old nest of a crow 

 or bird of prey in a tree or the top of a pollard willow. The accounts of 

 nests on the ground given by Dresser and Wheelwright lack precision, and 

 may after all refer to nests built on the ground, indeed, but under an 

 overhanging rock. 



The Goosander is an early breeder : in Denmark Mr. Benzon says that 

 the eggs are laid late in April or early in May; and even in Finland 

 Palmen states that they are laid from the middle of May to the middle 

 of June. 



The eggs of the Goosander are from eight to twelve in number, and are 

 creamy white in colour, somewhat smooth in grain, and rather glossy. 

 They vary in length from 3"9 to 2'5 inch, and in breadth from 1-9 to 

 1'8 inch. The down is a nearly uniform greyish white, which prevents 

 any confusion between the eggs of the Goosander and those of the Velvet 

 and Black Scoters. Large eggs closely resemble those of the former, and 

 small eggs those of the latter, but are slightly yellower. 



When the Goosander breeds at a distance from the ground, the female 

 removes the young one by one in her beak soon after they are hatched, 

 and leads them to the nearest water, where, being to the manor born, 

 they swim and dive, attaining such great facility with so little j)ractice 

 that their knowledge seems more to be inherited than acquired. 



The Goosander is as large as, sometimes rather larger than, the Mallard. 

 The adult male in nuptial dress has the entire head and neck glossy black 

 with green and purple reflections, the feathers of the crown and nape 

 being slightly elongated. The lower neck and the whole of the rest of the 

 underparts are white, suffused with rose-colour on the breast and belly, 

 slightly vermiculatcd with grey on the feathers round the thighs, and having 

 one or two brown feathers amongst the under wing-coverts. The mantle 

 and innermost and longest scapulars are glossy black; the lower back, 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail are slate-grey with dark shaft-lines ; the 

 sides of the rump are white vermiculatcd with grey. The primaries, 

 primary-coverts, and feathers on the shoulder are dark brown ; the greater 

 wing-coverts are Avhite with concealed black bases, and the secondaries and 

 the rest of the wing-coverts are white, the innermost secondaries with 

 narrow black margins. Bill vermilion, black at the tip ; legs and feet 

 orange; irides red. 



The female is slightly smaller (length of wing an inch less) . The head 

 and upper neck are chestnut, except the chin and upper throat, which are 



