HOW THE YOUNG ARE CONVEYED. 481 



colour and equally formed at both ends. Incubation lasts from 

 twenty-two to twenty-three days. When the female begins 

 to sit, the male no longer visits her. For a while he remains 

 in some lake or river in the vicinity, and afterwards deserts 

 her altogether. The goosander breeds early ; instances are on 

 record, indeed, of its eggs, already sat upon for some time, 

 having been found even on the 22nd of April. 



As with the golden-eye, the point is much mooted in 

 Sweden regarding the way in which the goosander, when 

 it nests in a hollow tree and often at a height of from 

 twenty to thirty feet gets its young to the ground, which it 

 is known to do the night after they are hatched. Some 

 imagine that whilst in the nest, the poults get on to her 

 back, after which she slowly creeps out of the cavity, and 

 thus burthened, either descends with outstretched wings, 

 and half-hovering, as it were, to terra firma, or cautiously 

 takes her flight to the nearest water. Others contend, 

 and with a much greater show of reason, that she takes 

 them up in her bill, and in this way carries them to 

 their native element. 



As, however, the brood is generally pretty numerous, and 

 as she is supposed only to remove one chick at a time, the 

 question arises as to what becomes of those deposited on 

 the strand, or in the water, as the case may be, whilst she 

 revisits the nest for the remainder. But the fishermen on 

 the coast have to their own satisfaction, at least solved 

 this difficulty ; for they say, that to prevent the young from 

 straggling, or swimming away, the mother very sensibly 

 places them on their backs. 



The flesh of the goosander is oily, and ill-tasted. In parts 

 of the Skargard it is nevertheless eaten by the inhabitants, 



VOL. n. I I 



