106 GOOSANDER. 



formly takes wing on your approach to the river, the female 

 rarely or never does so, but with a hoarse and as it were 

 suppressed kind of croaking, makes off for the opposite side, 

 sunk deeply in the water, and hurrying rapidly down the 

 stream. Should she be surprised unexpectedly, or pressed more 

 hardly and perseveringly than usual, she finally dives, makes 

 her way rapidly under the water, and emerges silently at a 

 very considerable distance from the spot where she went down. 

 The male, on the contrary, although he gets upon wing with 

 apparent difficulty, moving at first like a stone skimming the 

 surface of the water, ascends, nevertheless, to a great elevation 

 in the air, describing a circle of extended diameter, and only 

 alighting again after more evolutions than one, and when the 

 danger is apparently over.' They are wild and wary birds. 



On the land they are but ungainly in their movements, 

 but can, nevertheless, proceed in a rapid manner, if occasion 

 require. Swimming and diving are their most natural occu- 

 pations, and these they perform with ease and grace. They 

 swim low in the water. Meyer adds, 'when the Goosander 

 dives in open water, it re-appears generally from fifty to sixty 

 yards from the spot of its disappearance; but in places where 

 there is only a small opening in the ice, it repeatedly comes 

 up in the same place. The bird is said to remain frequently 

 under water for two minutes, and it has been seen to walk 

 about at the bottom in pursuit of food.' They fly with great 

 ease, and in a rapid manner, and can proceed for a considerable 

 distance. 



They feed on fish and the smaller reptiles. 



The call-note of the Goosander resembles the word 'carrr, 

 carrr,' and the young utter a piping cry while yet unfledged. 



The Goosander builds on small islands in fresh-water lochs 

 in the neighbourhood of the sea, and near the water's edge. 



The nest, which is placed under the cover of bushes, in 

 long grass, among stones, or in the hollow of the stump of 

 a decayed tree, is large altogether, being raised to a height 

 of seven or eight inches, on a mass of dead weeds, but the 

 inner and more finished part is only about seven inches 

 and a half across, and four in depth. It is composed of dry 

 grass and small roots, rather neatly twined together, and lined 

 with the down of the bird. 



The eggs, of a long and oval shape, are from four to six, 

 seven, or eight, and, Yarrell says, ten or fourteen, in number, 

 or more, though rarely; if removed from the nest, as many 



