GOOSANDER. 295 



veiiiently enter.. The person that way-hiys the bird for her 

 eggs, places against a fir or pine tree somewhere near the 

 bank of the river, a decayed trunk, with a hole in its middle ; 

 the bird enters and lays her eggs in it : presently the peasant 

 comes, and takes away the eggs, leaving, however, one or 

 two. The bird returns, and, finding but a single egg, lays 

 two or three more, which the man purloins in the same 

 manner ; the bird still returns, and, as if she had forgot 

 the eggs she had laid, proceeds once more to complete the 

 number she intended. She is defrauded of her eggs as 

 before, and continues repeating the same process four or 

 five times, when the man, who has by this time gathered 

 perhaps a score of eggs from the same nest, suffers her to 

 lay the last for the increase of her fimily. As soon as the 

 eggs are hatched, the mother takes the chicks gently in her 

 bill, carries and lays them down at the foot of the tree, 

 where she teaches them the way to the river, in which they 

 instantly swim with an astonishing facility." 



The Goosander is well known in Russia, and frequents 

 the large inland waters of Germany ; it is found also in 

 winter in Holland, France, Switzerland, Provence, and Italy. 

 It has been observed in the vicinity of the Caucasus ; and 

 M. Temminck says it is found in Japan. It is well known 

 to the naturalists of the United States ; and is found in 

 North America, Hudson's Bay, Greenland, and Iceland. 



In the adult male the bill is vermilion red, the superior 

 ridge of the upper mandible and the nail black ; the irides 

 red ; the head and upper part of the neck rich shining green, 

 with the occipital feathers elongated ; upper part of the 

 back and the scapulars black ; lower part of the back, upper 

 tail-coverts and tail-feathers ash-grey ; point of the wing, and 

 all the wing-coverts white ; wing-primaries nearly black ; 

 secondaries and tertials white ; lower part of neck in front, 

 and all the under surface of the body delicate reddish-bufF; 



