66 BIRDS OF LOCH AND MOUNTAIN 



so old can half swim, half fly along the surface of 

 the water with astonishing rapidity. Young birds 

 have been seen as late as October, but these were 

 probably a second clutch. 



I have often been puzzled by the behaviour of 

 the hen birds during the nesting season. When the 

 nesting haunt is approached several Goosanders 

 of both sexes, but chiefly females seem to appear 

 from nowhere and fly backwards and forwards, 

 quacking excitedly all the while. This fact seems 

 rather strange, because in the nests I have exam- 

 ined the hen always sits very hard, whereas the 

 birds one sees flying backwards and forwards must 

 have left their nest (if they had one) while the 

 intruder was yet a long way off. The young grow 

 quickly and are well on the wing by August, when 

 a keeper told me he killed five at one shot ! 



Very often the Oyster Catcher and Goosander 

 nest in the same locality, and once I saw what was 

 very nearly a collision between a Goosander and 

 an Oyster Catcher ; the latter, in its anxiety for its 

 young, making straight for the Goosander which 

 only avoided a bad accident by a desperate 

 effort. 



Most fishers would probably be pleased if 

 protection ceased to be afforded to this duck, 

 as it must cause a considerable amount of 

 damage among the small salmon fry in the rivers, 

 and has been known to "do for" a couple of trout, 

 both quite J Ib. in weight, in a very short space of 

 time. One evening I was lying by .the river side 

 when a Goosander came unsuspectingly close up 

 and began diving for trout, making a charming 

 picture. After a time another bird of the same 

 species flew rapidly up the river, and, catching sight 



