The Mergansers. 405 



of this species is as unpalatable as that 

 of the Goosander, but at times it is said 

 t*o be free from any fishy flavour. 



These birds have a quick and powerful 

 flight, but they rise from the water with 

 a considerable splash and generally fly 

 low. They possess the power, like the 

 Goosander, of sinking the body in the 

 water at will, till only the head and neck 

 are visible. 



The following extracts will, I trust, 

 enable my readers to form a good idea 

 of the general habits of this species in 

 Europe. 



Writing of this species in his " Bird- 

 Life of the Borders," Mr. Abel Chapman 

 says : — "Exquisitely graceful in form and 

 plumage, it is yet so wholly useless when 

 killed, that no professional fowler would 

 waste a charge of powder and shot over 

 them. The Mergansers are, nevertheless, 

 the most timid, wild, and utterly in- 

 accessible of all the wild birds of the sea. 

 So keen and alert is their vision, and so 

 hateful the human race, that they will 

 not, wittingly, allow the presence of 

 a punt on the same square mile of sea 

 as themselves ; it is, in fact, often ludicrous 

 to observe the immense distances at which 

 their almost irrational timidity bids them 



