16 ELEMENTS OF ORNITHOLOGY. 
through their narrow bills margined with tooth-like processes. 
They are noted as great destroyers of fish. Of them, the 
Goosander (Mergus merganser) may be taken as a type—a bird 
dear to the Scandinavian peasant. Mr. Seebohm tells * us that, 
as the House-martin has found a better shelter for its nest under 
the eaves of a roof than in a cliff, so the Goosander immediately 
avails itself of the wooden boxes which the Fins fasten up in 
the trees to tempt them. These are made with a trap-door 
Fig. 13. 



a 
The Goosander (Mergus merganser). 
behind “‘so that the peasant may daily rob the nest, and thus 
make the too-confiding bird lay a score or more of eggs before 
the wary man thinks it prudent to cease his depredations, and 
allow the Goosander to sit upon the nest for fear of spoiling 
the next year’s harvest.” 
In a half-domesticated state, on the surface or margins of our 
ponds, by homely farmsteads or in pleasure-grounds, we often 
find those small familiar Water-Birds known as “ Moor-hens ” 
* British Birds, vol. iii. p. 626. 
