266 GOOSANDER. 
a nest or brood of these birds had annually been seen near this “ere 
and secluded island.” 
The male Goosanders leave the females immediately after incuba- 
tion has commenced, and are then seen in the wildest parts of the 
country. Several females are often found breeding on the same 
island, and it is after their young are pretty well grown, that they 
moult. Fora number of years past, I have sometimes entertained 
a hope, at the approach of the breeding season, of finding a male 
Goosander having his head adorned with a broad erectile crest, like 
that of the female and young, but I have hitherto been disappointed, 
and am therefore unable to say whether such a crest ever exists in that 
sex. The young of both sexes retain the colouring of the female for 
two years, during which time the males can be distinguished from the 
females only by their being much larger. The males have not the 
rich buffy tint on the breast until about two years after they have com- 
menced breeding, and the first perceptible change by which their sex 
is distinguished is the appearance of black feathers on the head and 
neck. Until of late years, the females were thought to be of a dis- 
tinct species, to which the name of Dun Diver was given. 
Many writers have said that this bird breeds in the hollows of 
trees, or on their branches; but of the various nests which I have 
found, not one occurred in such situations ; and the Hooded Merganser 
is the only species of this genus which I have observed nestling in an 
elevated place. 
The notes of the Goosander are harsh, consisting of hoarse croaks, 
seldom uttered unless the bird be suddenly startled, or when courting. 
The females are usually silent, but when with their young brood, and 
pursued, they emit the same guttural sounds as the males. Goosanders 
are easily caught with hooks baited with fish; my friend Joun BacuMan 
has procured them in this manner on the Hudson River, and I also 
have on the Ohio. 
Along with the representation of a pair of adult birds of this spe- 
cies, I have given a correct view of the Cohoes Falls 1 the State of 
New York. 
