396 ANATID.E. 



the lochs in some northern localities to be hereafter pointed 

 out. These birds usually make their appearance in Novem- 

 ber, especially in severe weather, and remain till the end of 

 March; but the greater proportion of them are females, 

 or young birds of the year : the fully adult male may be 

 considered as the most rare. All of them frequent fresh- 

 water lakes as well as the sea-shore and estuaries, but if 

 severe frost occurs they are driven to the shelter of deep 

 bays, where, by their powers of diving, they are able to 

 obtain a supply of fish, the principal object sought after as 

 food. Possessing strong tooth-like processes on the bill, 

 by which it is enabled to hold a slippery prey, this bird, 

 like the Red-breasted Merganser, is also called Sawbill and 

 Jacksaw. 



Goosanders in any state are rare visiters to the southern 

 counties of England, but have been killed during hard win- 

 ters in Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and eastward 

 to Sussex, Kent, and Essex. A few are occasionally ex- 

 posed for sale in winter in the London markets, and 

 specimens are obtained in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 

 and northward to Durham, and Northumberland. In 

 Sutherlandshire, Mr. Selby mentions that two or three 

 birds of this species were seen in June 1834, during the 

 Natural History excursion, but no nest or breeding station 

 was detected. Mr. J. Macgillivray, in his recently published 

 notes on the Zoology of the Outer Hebrides, says the 

 Goosander is pretty common, breeding close to the larger 

 lakes, and occasionally by the sea, as near Loch Maddy 

 in North Uist. In Ireland, Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, 

 observes, that the Goosander is only a regular winter 

 visiter. The Rev. Mr. Low, in his Natural History of 

 Orkney, says, " With us the Goosander continues the 

 whole year, and may be seen every day in numbers on the 



