PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 289 



5. Food. The goosander is mainly a fresh- water species, except occa- 

 sionally in hard weather, and feeds almost entirely on fish, like the other sawbills. 

 It feeds greedily, and will gorge itself when it gets the chance. The species of fish 

 captured depends on locality : trout are largely eaten in the north. Newstead found 

 three young salmon and remains of other small fish in one bird; in winter T. E. Gunn 

 found roach up to 8 inches long ; and E. T. Booth records small rudd and roach. 

 Thompson took a young pike (Esox lucius) 8J in. long, and remains of two others, 

 from one bird; another contained an eel 11 \ in. long and remains of a second, 

 as well as a full-grown Trochus cinerarius and some small stones. G. Bolam has 

 taken an eel 18 inches long from the gullet of a female, but finds the usual food 

 to be samlets and young trout, which are easily swallowed up to 6 inches in length. 

 Macgillivray records taking sixteen trout from one bird, and Cordeaux took two 

 trout, 7 and 5 inches long, from another. During the breeding season the diet is, 

 however, slightly varied : Hantzsch frequently found remains of water-plants, and 

 Hartert states that cockchafers, dung-beetles, and caterpillars are eaten at this 

 season ; while Naumann found traces of vegetable matter (but always mixed with 

 animal food, such as the wings and legs of beetles), various insects (water-beetles 

 and larvae of aquatic insects), worms, and frogs. The young are tended by the 

 duck alone. [F. c. E. J.] 



6. Song Period. The soft, low croak which accompanies the courtship 

 display may be heard not only in the early spring (up to April), but also in late 

 autumn (S. E. Brock). [F. o. E. J.] 



REDBREASTED - MERGANSER [Mergus serrdtor Linnaeus. Saw- 

 bill (generic) ; spikebilled-wigeon (Devon) ; yarrell (Northumberland) ; 

 harl (Orkneys) ; hareld-duck (Shetlands) ; scaleduck, sheldduck, spear- 

 wigeon (Ireland). French, harle huppe ; German, mittlerer Sdger ; Italian, 

 smergo minore]. 



I. Description. The redbreasted-merganser is readily distinguished at 

 all seasons from the goosander by its smaller size, the slight extension of the 

 feathers of the forehead on to the base of the culmen, the slight forward extension 

 of the feathers of the throat, which do not extend beyond the hinder margin of 

 the nostril, the absence of white in the scapulars, and the single enlargement 

 down, the middle of the windpipe, which can be felt with thjsi jftttgevs : there are 

 two in the male goosander, one in the female, while the fettiale; :merganser has 

 none. The sexes differ conspicuously, and there is a marked seasonal change 



