igz BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 



yellowish- grey, and on the protuberance on each side at the base a large square 

 patch of black, margined with orange-red, unless in front, where there is a patch 

 of greyish-white ; the lower mandible flesh-coloured, with the margins darker ; the 

 iris yellowish-white ; the tarsi and toes are orange- red ; the webs dusky ; the claws 

 black ; the plumage is deep black, glossed with blue, of a lighter tint beneath ; on 

 the top of the head is a roundish patch of white, and on the hind neck a larger 

 elongated patch of the same." "Length to end of tail 20 inches; wing from 

 flexure 9! ; bill along ridge ij." (Macgillivrayj . 



The female is considerably less than the male, and the base of the bill much 

 less protuberant. The general colour brownish-black, lighter underneath. 



The specific name perspicillata has probable reference to the two black patches 

 on each side of the bill. 



Family -ANA TID&. 



GOOSANDER. 



Mergus merganser, 



THE Goosander is known to breed in several localities in the North of 

 Scotland, independent of this it is only a winter visitor to the British Isles, 

 where it is much more of a fresh-water than a marine species. In the districts 

 on the east coast, with which I am best acquainted, there can be no doubt it is 

 much the commonest of the two Mergansers within the Humber and its tributaries; 

 when, however, we come to the open sea and the Lincolnshire coast, the Merganser 

 (Mergus serratorj is the most plentiful. Mr. Haigh says, on the section of the 

 coast between Tetney Haven and Saltfleet, he has met with the Goosander much 

 less frequently than the Merganser. Mr. F. Boyes, of Beverley, in " The Field," 

 February aoth, 1897, remarks : " I have shot wild-fowl on our river (the Hull) 



