Mr Buchcman on the Distribution of the Goosander. 191 



tion, I came to the conclusion that they could scarcely belong 

 to any other species than to the goosander. I then wrote to 

 the keeper, asking him to try to secure a portion of the down 

 from the nest. Towards the middle of September I received 

 his answer, in which he enclosed a single feather in every 

 respect answering to a feather from the flank of a female 

 goosander in our collection. The feather was sent to Mr H. 

 E. Dresser, who confirmed my comparison, and in answer 

 said — ' I congratulate you on the first recorded Scottish nest 

 of Mergus merganser! " 



In the Field of July 29th and August 12th 1871— the 

 same year in which Mr Harvie-Brown obtained eggs in Perth- 

 shire — Mr J. Graham (James Street, Liverpool) records that 

 he saw a female goosander, accompanied by seven young 

 ones, on Loch Awe, Argyleshire, and that in 1868 he saw the 

 same in Orkney. 



Mr J. Watson, in a letter to Mr Harvie-Brown, under date 

 of November 1872, states that he took a nest that season in 

 the " west of Scotland." " The nest contained six eggs, and 

 was placed on a ledge of rock quite open and within three 

 feet of the water." 



In 1873, Captain Feilden and Mr Harvie-Brown saw two 

 goosanders, on the 13th and 14th of June, at the same locality 

 from whence Mr Brown obtained the eggs in 1871. In 1876 

 Mr Dresser and Mr Brown found the nest at the same spot. 

 The eggs had, however, been unfortunately taken, but the 

 down was left. The keepers and shepherds are in the habit 

 of destroying the eggs, on account of the supposed harm the 

 birds do to fish. In 1877, Mr Brown knew of the goosanders 

 breeding again at this locality. 



Mr MaUoch, naturalist, Perth, informs me that he saw a 

 brood of nine young birds at the same spot on the 1st of 

 August 1878. This was probably a second hatch, as the 

 boatman informed him that he had taken the eggs in June 

 for a London gentleman. 



A pair of goosanders have frequented the Tay, about eight 

 miles above Perth, during the whole of last summer, and 

 from this one may infer that they possibly breed somewhere 

 in that locality. 



