GOOSANDER. 399 



the lochs in some northern localities to be hereafter pointed 

 out. These birds usually make their appearance in Novem- 

 ber, especially in severe weather, and remain till the end 

 of March ; but the greater proportion of them are females, 

 or young birds of the year : the fully-adult male may be 

 considered as the most rare. All of them frequent fresh- 

 water lakes as well as the sea-shore and estuaries, but if 

 severe frost occurs they are driven to the shelter of deep 

 bays, where, by their powers of diving, they are able to 

 obtain a supply of fish, the principal object sought after as 

 food. Possessing strong tooth-like processes on the bill, 

 by which it is enabled to hold a slippery prey, this bird, 

 like the Red-breasted Merganser, is also called Sawbill and 

 Jacksaw. 



Goosanders in any state are rare visitors to the southern 

 counties of England, but have been killed during hard 

 winters in Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and east- 

 ward to Sussex, Kent, and Essex. A few are occasionally 

 exposed for sale in winter in the London markets, and 

 specimens are obtained in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 

 and northward to Durham, and Northumberland. In 

 Sutherlandshire, Mr. Selby mentions that two or three 

 birds of this species were seen in June, 1834, during the 

 Natural History excursion, but no nest or breeding-station 

 detected. Mr. J. Macgillivray, in his published Notes on 

 the Zoology of the Outer Hebrides, says the Goosander 

 is pretty common, breeding close to the larger lakes, and 

 occasionally by the sea, as near Loch Maddy in North 

 Uist. In Ireland, Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, observes, 

 that the Goosander is only a regular winter visitor. The 

 Rev. Mr. Low, in his Natural History of Orkney, says, 

 ( With us the Goosander continues the whole year, and 

 may be seen every day in numbers on the lakes and in the 

 sea; builds on the small holms of the loch of Stenness, 



