226 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



duck righted himself, commenced to dive and was 

 at once out of shot of the shore. To row a boat and 

 shoot a diving Golden-eye is a physical impossi- 

 bility, so I went to a cottage close by and found a 

 very small friend of mine — one Veders — who agreed 

 to come and assist in the capture of the wounded 

 bird. By this time the duck had swum far into 

 the lake, but I soon found him with the aid of the 

 glass. My little friend was not, however, strong 

 enough to row the pace of the wounded Golden-eye, 

 and after several ineffectual attempts to come within 

 a shot we eventually lost our quarry. 



The bird of all others that excited me was the 

 Goosander male in eclipse plumage. So far as I 

 know, there is not a specimen of the male Goosander 

 in its plumage like the female in Great Britain. 

 The only two known examples are in the collection 

 of Mr. Schoeler at Copenhagen, and he kindly lent 

 them to me to figure in my work on the British 

 Diving Ducks. Altogether twelve of these fine 

 birds frequented the sea bay and Salt Lake. They 

 constantly passed at half tide from the sea to the 

 lake. I know of no bird that possesses such 

 wonderful eyesight as the Goosander, or is at this 

 season so shy and cunning. The sight of a man at 

 half a mile is sufficient to put it on the wing, and it 

 is at all times most difficult to stalk or to lie in 

 wait for, for it chooses very open spaces of water 

 which are not commanded by projecting head- 

 lands. Unlike the Red-breasted Merganser, which 

 is common and easily outmanoeuvred, the Goosander 

 only offers the gunner a chance when it is forced 

 to cross some neck of land in its passage from one 

 sheet of water to another, and occasionally when 



