MERGUS. 187 



Genus MERGUS Linrueus, Syst. Nat. 1758 p. 129. 

 Type : M. merganser, Linn. 



Mergus=& diving-bird, in classical Latin, from mergo = I divo. 



Mergus merganser. GOOSANDER. 



Mergus merganser Linnmis, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 129 : 

 Sweden. 



Mergus merganser Linn. ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 136 ; 



Sounders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 471. 



Merganser castor (Linn.) ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. JH. xxvii. 

 1895, p. 472. 



Merganser diving Goose; from mergua and anser. Coined by Gesner, on 

 account of the bird's size. 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Resident in the 

 northern parts of Scotland, nesting in suitable areas in 

 Sutherlandshire, Ross-shire, Morayshire, Perthshire, and 

 Argyllshire. Elsewhere it is chiefly a Winter Visitor to the 

 estuaries and inland waters, but rare in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides, and uncommon on the 

 southern coasts of England, Wales, and Ireland. 



General Distribution. The Goosander inhabits the northern 

 and central parts of Europe and northern Asia. It breeds 

 in Iceland, Scandinavia, Finland, and north Russia south- 

 wards to Denmark, east Germany, the Swiss Lakes, the 

 central Volga districts, and the Ural Mountains ; also east- 

 wards across Siberia to Kamchatka. In winter it ranges to 

 south Spain, the Mediterranean (sparingly except in the 

 Adriatic), and the Black sea ; occasionally to the coasts of 

 north Africa, from Morocco to Tunisia, and to China and 

 Japan. In central Asia and India it is represented by a 

 very nearly allied form, M. m. comatus, and in North America 

 by another close ally, M. m. americanus. 



