GOOSANDER. 267 



mites. These circumstances have induced some late Ornitholo- 

 gists to consider them as two different species, the young, or fe- 

 male, having been called the Dun Diver. By this arrangement 

 they have entirely deprived the Goosander of his female; for 

 in the whole of my examinations and dissections of the present 

 species, I have never yet found the female in his dress. What I 

 consider as undoubtedly the true female of this species is figured 

 beside him. They were both shot in the month of April, in 

 the same creek, unaccompanied by any other, and on examina- 

 tion the sexual parts of each were strongly and prominently 

 marked. The windpipe of the female had nothing remarkable 

 in it; that of the male had two very large expansions, which 

 have been briefly described by Willoughby, who says: "It hath 

 a large bony labyrinth on the windpipe, just above the divari- 

 cations; and the windpipe hath besides two swellings out, one 

 above another, each resembling a powder puff." These laby- 

 rinths are the distinguishing characters of the males; and are 

 always found even in young males who have not yet thrown 

 off the plumage of the female, as well as in the old ones. If we 

 admit these Dun divers to be a distinct species, we can find no 

 difference between their pretended females and those of the 

 Goosander, only one kind of female of this sort being known, 

 and this is contrary to the usual analogy of the other three spe- 

 cies, viz. the Red breasted Merganser, the Hooded and the 

 Smew, all of whose females are well known, and bear the same 

 comparative resemblance in colour to their respective males, the 

 length of crest excepted, as the female Goosander we have fi- 

 gured bears to him. 



Having thought thus much necessary on this disputed point, 

 I leave each to form his own opinion on the facts and reasoning, 

 produced, and proceed to describe the female. 



