OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 441 



Family ANATIDZE. Genus MERGANSER. 



Subfamily MERGING. 



GOOSANDER. 



MBEGANSEE CASTOK (Linnaeus). 

 PLATE XL. 



Mergus merganser, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 208 (1766) ; Dresser B. Eur. vi. p. 685, 

 pi. 452 (1875) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 625 (1885) ; Yarrell, Brit. B. ed. 4 iv. 

 p. 488 (1885); Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. p. 245 (18931; Lilford, Col. Pig. 

 Brit. B. pt. xxiii (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 55, pi. 15 (1896). 



Merganser castor (Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. v. p. 207 (1852^; Salvador!, Cat. B. Brit. 

 Mus. xxvii. p. 472 (1895). 



Merganser merganser (Linn.), Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 58 (1896). 



Geographical distribution British: The Goosander is a fairly 

 common winter visitor to the British Islands, both inland and on the coast. It 

 is rare in the Orkneys and Shetlands, but more frequent on the east and west 

 coasts of Scotland, especially the latter ; tolerably common on the eastern shores 

 of England, but rarer on the south and west. It is rare in Ireland, although in the 

 severe weather of 1880-81 an unusual visitation took place, and examples were 

 obtained in all parts of the Island. It breeds sparingly in Scotland, in Suther- 

 landshire, Argyllshire, North Perthshire, and a few other localities in the High- 

 lands. Foreign : Palsearctic region ; northern limits of Oriental region in winter. 

 It breeds in Iceland and Denmark, and throughout Scandinavia, but does not 

 winter north of the Arctic Circle. It is said to breed in Switzerland, and has 

 been recorded from Nova Zembla. Eastwards it is found during summer in 

 Pomerania, and Eussia as far north as the Arctic Circle, and as far south as lat. 

 50 in the Ural and Volga districts. In Asia it breeds throughout Siberia south 

 of the Arctic Circle, and in a similar climate at high elevations in Turkestan, 

 and the Himalayas up to 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. It winters on 

 the coasts and inland waters of Central and Southern Europe, but rarely crosses 

 to the African side of the Mediterranean. It is also found at this season in the 

 Black Sea, on the lower lands of Turkestan, in Northern India, Mongolia, China 

 and Japan. 



Allied forms. Merganser americanus, an inhabitant of the Nearctic 

 region, breeding from about lat. 42 as -far north as the limit of trees, and in winter 



