222 BRITISH SEA BERDS: 
in British waters as a winter visitor, but breeds 
sparingly within our limits, it has some claim to be 
included in the present volume, although it cannot 
be regarded as a very striking feature in coast bird 
life. It is also far less exclusively marine than the 
preceding species. The Goosander is an even more 
handsome bird than the Red-breasted Merganser, 
and is the largest species in the present sub-family. 
The colours of the male are arranged in a most 
effective and strongly-contrasted way. The head 
and neck are dark metallic-green, the breast is a 
delicate and beautiful pink, the upper parts and the 
wings are black and white, the under parts below 
the breast white. The female has the head reddish- 
brown, the upper parts grayish-brown or pale chest- 
nut, the lower buffish-white. In its habits and in 
the haunts it frequents, the Goosander very closely 
resembles its smaller ally. When, in winter, fre- 
quenting the coast it delights in the bays and fjords, 
but occasionally wanders to less precipitous shores, 
notably estuaries and the mouths of tidal rivers. 
It is a remarkably agile bird in the water, swim- 
ming and diving with equal ease, but on the land 
its movements are ungainly, the bird wriggling 
along with its breast almost touching the ground, 
in a very Diver-like manner. In diving, it often 
descends to a great depth. Although not often 
seen much on shore, it possesses the Cormorant- 
like habit of basking on some rock jutting from the 
water, sitting with its body upright and wings half 
