240 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



species in the breeding season, or of its nidification, 

 and, with the great majority of collectors, an egg of 

 the Smew is still a great desideratum. 



REDBREASTED MERGANSER, Mergus serrator. Pro- 

 vincial, Sawbill. This species has been shot two or 

 three times on Kingsbury Reservoir, but in every 

 instance in winter. Mr. Yarrell observes that they 

 visit the Thames, and he received from Mr. Jesse a 

 fine specimen that was killed during severe weather 

 above Putney Bridge. 



Mr. James Button, of Hammersmith, wrote me 

 word that two Redbreasted Mergansers were shot 

 on the river in his neighbourhood, in January, 

 1854, and another specimen, in his brother's col- 

 lection, was killed on the river, near Chiswick, in 

 the winter of 1855. 



GOOSANDER, Mergus merganser. A fine male 

 Goosander was shot at Kingsbury, several winters 

 ago, by a labouring man, who, thinking the bird 

 unique, refused a crown for it, and carried it to 

 London, expecting to sell it for a fabulous sum. 



I have occasionally seen Goosanders hanging up 

 in the London markets in the spring, but could 

 never obtain satisfactory proofs of any having been 

 killed in the county. These were almost invariably 

 females and immature males. 



