i 3 2 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



GOOSANDER. 



(M erg us meganser.) 

 Order ANSERES ; Family ANATID^: (DUCKS). 



Description of Parent Birds. Length twenty- 

 six and a half inches. Bill rather long, straight, 

 hooked at the tip, and vermilion-red, except the 

 upper ridge and point of the upper mandible, which 

 are black. Irides red. Head and upper half of 

 neck rich glossy green ; feathers on the back of 

 the head lengthened. Upper back and scapulars 

 black ; lower back, upper tail-coverts, and tail-quills 

 ash-grey. Shoulder of wing, all the coverts and 

 secondaries white ; primaries almost black. Lower 

 part of neck in front, breast, belly, vent, and under 

 tail-coverts salmon-buff. Legs and toes orange-red, 

 webs somewhat darker. 



The female is rather smaller, and differs to a 

 considerable extent in coloration. Bill and irides 

 duller. Head and upper part of neck reddish- 

 brown. Back, wings, tail-coverts, tail-quills, sides 

 and flanks ash-grey, except secondaries and pri- 

 maries, which are white and lead-grey respectively. 

 Throat white, breast, and under-parts tinted with 

 buff. Legs and feet orange-red. 



Situation and Locality. Holes in trees, clefts 

 in rocks, holes amongst the exposed roots of trees, 

 on ledges of rock, under the cover of bushes, on 

 small islands, in freshwater lochs, on the banks 

 of streams and lochs, in forests in the northern 

 Highlands. No absolute proof of the bird's nesting 

 in the British Isles was forthcoming until as late 

 as 1871. 



Materials. Depend somewhat upon position ; 



