296 THE SAWBILLED-DUCKS 



THE GOOSANDER 



Although the goosander had been suspected of breeding in Scot- 

 land for some years (quite apart from the probably mistaken records 

 from the Outer Hebrides), the first definite proof was obtained in 

 1871. In that year a brood of young was observed on Loch Awe in 

 July, and a nest with eight eggs taken from a hollow tree by Loch 

 Ericht, Perthshire, in May, which was subsequently identified by 

 careful comparison of the eggs and down. Full particulars of 

 the discovery will be found in Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown's Fauna of 

 the Tay Basin and Strathmore, pp. 251-254. At the present time the 

 goosander is by no means uncommon in some parts of Scotland as 

 a breeding species. 



Till quite recently hardly anything had been recorded with 

 regard to the courtship of this species, but some very interesting 

 observations have been published by Mr. S. E. Brock in the Scottish 

 Naturalist for 1912, p. 116. The first indications are noticed in 

 November, soon after the birds have arrived at their winter quarters 

 on Linlithgow Loch. Later on the performance takes place more 

 frequently and is more fully developed. Mr. Brock divides the dis- 

 play into three heads. In the first "when swimming rapidly in 

 company with one or more females, the male with great suddenness 

 and rapidity stretches his head and neck perpendicularly upwards to 

 their fullest extent, the bill gaping " : and thence with equal abruptness 

 assumes his ordinary demeanour. The second performance bears 

 considerable resemblance to that of the mallard, the bird raising the 

 fore part of the body in the water, and simultaneously curving the 

 neck so that the bill is directed towards the breast. (See the figure 

 of the mallard in this position in British Birds, iv. p. 3.) The third 

 action consists of a spasmodic movement of the feet while swimming, 

 by which a jet of water is thrown upwards, and the bird is propelled 



