208 THE NATURALIST IN NOEWAY. 



fish-duck. The food consists entirely of slimy kinds 

 of fish, especially eels, in seizing which the bird is 

 greatly assisted by its saw-like bill. The female lays 

 from six to ten pale buff eggs, of a large size. 



The hooded merganser (M. cucullatus) has not been 

 seen in Norway. 



The goosander (If. merganser}. This bird is found 

 generally throughout Norway, and is as common on 

 the large rivers and fjords as on the coast. Everest 

 states, that he found its nest off Oster Bisoer, on the 

 south coast of Norway, which contained five eggs, of 

 a reddish-white colour. Its Norwegian name is stor 

 fisk-and, or great fish-duck. It appears to indulge in 

 a plurality of wives, as it is generally followed by two 

 or three females. 



Nilsson says, that he once shot a male bird of this 

 species, which had a kind of eel (Zoarceus viviparus), 

 twelve inches long, which it had partly swallowed; 

 the tail of the eel reached as far as the bill of the 

 bird, and the head was already partly digested in its 

 stomach. 



Naturalists have often been puzzled to know how 

 the female could convey her young to the water, when 

 she made her nest in a tree. I have been informed 

 that she seizes the young bird by the neck, swings it 

 over her back, and thus conveys it to its natural ele- 

 ment; returning to' the nest, she repeats the process 

 over and over again, until she has brought all her 

 young ones to the water, when she sails away with 

 them in triumph.' The flesh of the goosander is by 

 no means palatable, being oily and fishy, but the Nor- 

 wegian peasants declare that it makes excellent soup. 

 De gustibus non est disputandum. 



