ANATID.^. 131 



weather and when floods are prevalent. Mrs. De 

 Vitre s collection at Formosa contains a fine male of 

 this species which was procured in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, and Mr. Briggs once saw a flock of 

 five of these ducks swimming about some flooded 

 meadows near Cockmarsh. 



Red-breasted Merganser {Mergiis serrator). 

 A winter visitor, though not common. The Rev. H. 

 Harpur Crewe informs me that small parties of four 

 or five are observed upon the i:eservoir at Wilstone 

 almost every year. Occasionally individuals are shot 

 on the Thames. 



A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers are recorded 

 as having been killed near Reading, so long ago as 

 1785. A female of this species was shot at Wrays- 

 bury in the winter of 1854, and was stufi*ed by Mr. 

 Hasell of Windsor. I am indebted to Mr. R. B. Sharp 

 for the notice of a female Red-breasted Merganser, 

 which was killed during a frost a few years since in 

 the neighbourhood of Cookham, and is now in the 

 collection of Mrs. De Vitre. 



Goosander {Mergus Merganser). Local names. 

 Saw-billed Diver and Dini-lfiver. An uncommon 

 winter visitant. Of late years the following parti- 

 culars of the occurrence of this species have come 

 under my notice. 



In 1847 a carpenter killed a fine male on the 

 Thames, near Monkey Island : this bird is now in 

 the collection of Mr. Harding. An adult male was 



K 2 



