220 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol, XIII. 
but usually in places where the forests extended down to the shores, 
and frequently in localities where there are reeds or dense herbage, as 
is frequently the case on portions of the coast. Itis a wary and shy 
bird, soon taking alarm and not easy to approach within range; but I 
often obtained them when out very early in the morning about 
sunrise, when they appeared less shy than otherwise. It is a very 
expert diver; and on the coast of New Brunswick I observed them 
fishing in flocks at the entrance of a small bay,.and evidently driving 
the fish before them, as they formed a gort of cordon round the 
entrance to the bay, some diving, whilst the others remained on the 
surface. When pursued or threatened with any danger, it usually 
seeks safety by diving in preference to trusting to its powers of flight. 
It flies with great swiftness ; and 1 observed, when one passed at full 
speed near my hiding place in the rocks, that it made a whistling 
sound with its wings, easily heard even at some little distance. It 
feeds on fish of various kinds ; larvee of water insects, worms, and it 
is also said to some extent frogs, form its staple food.” 
Naumann describes their cry as “A loud, resounding guttural 
keer-r-r or ger-r-r,” heard chiefly during flight, sometimes on rising, 
and the females and young are said tv be more noisy than the adult 
males, 
Like the Goosander the Red-breasted Merganser can at will either 
float fairly high on the surface of the water, deep down in the water, 
or entirely submerge its body leaving only its head and neck visible. 
As regards its breeding habits, it is remarkable that, whereas ib is 
the exception for the Goosander to breed, building its nest on the 
ground, it would appear to be the rule for this bird to do so and the 
exception for it to build on trees. 
Saxby, describing its nesting in the Shetlands, says that ‘‘ Although 
they often lay amongst long grass, they seem to prefer the shelter of 
a roof of some kind, and thusitis that the eggs are most com- 
_monly found under rocks, in rabbit burrows, and even in crevices im 
old walls.” : 
In Yarrel’s “ History of British Birds,” III, p. 288, there are the 
following remarks :—-“‘ This species, Mr. Thompson says, . . . . 
is indigenous to Iceland, nesting in islets both of marine and fresh- 
water loughs. Pennant has recorded its oreeding in the Isle of Islay. 
