266 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Region. The adult male of this merganser can readily be 

 distinguished by the semicircular black crest and the broad 

 bar or patch of white behind the eye. Length, about nine- 

 teen inches. The adult female has the crest reddish-brown, 

 and is rather smaller in size than the male. 



GOOSANDER. 



THE Goosander (Mergus merganser, Linnaeus) is a winter 

 visitor to the British Isles, and has nested in some parts 

 of the Highlands. It also occurs in the Palearctic and 

 Nearctic Regions. The adult male has the head and upper 

 part of neck black, glossed with green and purple ; feathers 

 on crown and nape, long and silky ; lower part of neck and 

 remainder of under parts, white ; breast and abdomen, 

 suffused with rich buff-orange ; thighs, slightly vermiculated 

 with grey ; mantle, black ; wing-coverts and outer second- 

 aries, white; quills, black; rump and tail, ashy-black; 

 irides, red ; bill, vermilion ; nail, black ; legs and feet, rich 

 orange. Length, about twenty- six inches. The female is 

 chestnut on head and upper neck ; chin and upper throat, 

 whitish ; feathers on crown and nape, elongated ; upper 

 parts, slate-grey ; greater coverts, conspicuously tipped with 

 white; under parts, whitish. (P. 267.) 



