302 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



March 4th I "« as again at about the same place^ and saw flocks 

 consisting of from three to thirteen, and obtained one more 

 male, though they would rarely allow the boat to approacli 

 nearer them than about three hundred yards, and a few Black 

 Ducks, of wliicli I saw many hundreds. The boatmen told 

 me they were generally there, and a little further to the east, 

 till late in Juqc. The gizzards of both the Common and 

 the Velvet Scoters contained large full-grown specimens of 

 Cardium ediile, and a few specimens of a small Area. I was 

 there again soon after, in a perfectly calm sea, and could not 

 get near either species, though I saw many of both; Mr. Knox 

 states that he had a specimen, without date, which was killed 

 ofiF Selsey Bill. Mr. Jeffery (p. n.) observes that one was 

 obtained at Selsey, and went to Chichester Museum, but I 

 have not the date. 



In the 'Zoologist^ (p. 9101) Mr. Dutton records that one 

 was taken alive, near Eastbourne, on April 14th, 18G0; and 

 again (p. 9578) that he purchased a female, shot off that 

 town, November 2nd, 1865. 



GOOSANDER. 



Mergus merganser. 



This, the largest of the British Mergansers, is by no means 

 a common species, and seldom visits us, except in the hardest 

 winters, when it may be occasionally met with, both on fresh 

 Avater and on the sea. Fish and Crustacea seem to be its 

 only food. It breeds in hollows in trees. And Mr. Booth states 

 in 'Rough Notes,^ that be has frequently obtained the young 

 in the down, in the Northern Highlands of Scotland. The 

 Goosander is known to the coast shooters as the " Spear 

 Duck;'^ its note is a loud whistle. Mr. Goidcn, in his 



