THE GOOSANDER. 397 



lakes and in the sea ; builds on the small holms of the 

 loch of Stenness, along with other birds ; in harvest and in 

 winter fly in flocks, in summer in pairs ; the male and 

 female are then strict companions, but, like many other 

 birds, when breeding-time is over, part company, and lose 

 acquaintance." The nest, according to Mr. Selby, is con- 

 structed " near to the edge of the water, of a mass of grass, 

 roots and other materials, mixed and lined with down. It 

 is placed sometimes among stones, sometimes in long grass, 

 or under the cover of bushes, and, when the locality 

 affords them, in the stumps or hollows of decayed trees." 

 The eggs are of a uniform buff-coloured white, measuring 

 two inches and a half in length, by one inch and eight 

 lines in breadth. Six or seven young are considered a 

 large brood, and the careful mother has been seen, like 

 the Wild Duck, to carry some of her offspring, occasionally, 

 on her back when in the water, as the parent Swan is 

 known to do. 



Mr. Hewitson, in his notes on the ornithology of Nor- 

 way, says, "of the Goosander we frequently observed small 

 flocks, almost entirely male birds, accompanied rarely by 

 one or two females. The females must have been breeding 

 somewhere in the neighbourhood, but it was in vain that 

 we made every search for the eggs. 



Professor Nilsson says the Goosander is not uncommon 

 on the lakes and rivers of Sweden ; and Mr. Dann tells me 

 that it is widely dispersed from Scona to Lapland, as far 

 as the woody districts extend ; and that it breeds at Gelli- 

 vara. Linnaeus, in his tour in Lapland, describes a male 

 Goosander which had been caught in a net set for pike, 

 near Lycksele ; and Acerbi in his travels, when on the 

 banks of a river near Kardis, in Lapland, says "the 

 Mergus merganser, instead of building a small nest, like 



