PLATE I 

 GOOSANDER. Mergus merganser 



May 26tk, 1896. The tree depicted in this Plate was in Glen More forest, 

 Strathspey, and contained a Goosander's nest. This tree has been tenanted 

 yearly since 1894 to my knowledge, possibly by the same pair of birds. 



About three miles from this place, I came upon another hollow alder 

 containing a nest of this species, on a flat piece of ground in a steep glen 

 beside a rushing stream. I spent two mornings watching this nest, and was 

 rewarded by seeing the old bird remove her nine ducklings from the hole, 

 which was vertical, and nearly six feet deep. How she got up inside I cannot 

 tell, as the hole was not wide enough to enable her to use her wings, and was 

 only six and a half inches across at the orifice. However, she appeared each 

 time with a young bird, sometimes in her bill, sometimes held between her 

 breast and her bill, and once she let one fall from the mouth of the hole on to 

 the heather below. The young bird was apparently none the worse. When the 

 last duckling had been safely got down, she led them down the burn, never 

 having noticed me as I sat huddled up behind some big stones on the other 

 side of the water. It took considerably more than an hour to carry down all 

 the little ones. The drake did not appear upon the scene. 



Young in down are dark brown on the upper parts, shading into reddish 

 brown on the head and sides of the neck. The under parts are white, as 

 also are the lores, which are margined above and below with dark brown. 

 There is a white patch on each wing, one on each side of the back, and one 

 on each side of the rump. 



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