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it ; but there is a female in the Leiden Museum collected by Dr. Clot in Egypt. In North-west 

 Africa it is of accidental occurrence during winter ; and Loche obtained it on Lake Fezzara. 



To the eastward it is found as far as China and Japan, but does not appear ever to have 

 been met with in India. Severtzoff did not meet with it in Turkestan, though he includes both 

 the Goosander and the Smew in his list. Von Middendorff says that he observed it at the 

 mouth of the river Uda, in the Sea of Ochotsk. Dr. Radde speaks of it as being one of the 

 commonest species in Eastern Siberia, where it breeds. Late in May he found it in pairs in 

 the Bureja Mountains, and in September he observed numbers of young birds on the river 

 Onon ; and Von Schrenck says that it is much more numerous than the Goosander in the Lower- 

 Amoor country ; and Mr. Maack observed it near the Schilka, on the Upper Amoor. According 

 to Temminck and Schlegel it visits Japan in considerable numbers ; and Mr. Swinhoe says that 

 it is found throughout China ; but I gather that it is only a winter visitant to these countries. 

 Pere David found it common in North China in all stages of plumage, the adult birds being, 

 however, the less numerous. In the Nearctic Region it is found in the summer season in 

 what formerly was Russian America and in the British Possessions, and migrates southward 

 in winter to the Southern States. It appears to be common throughout the Hudson's-Bay 

 territory, is recorded in the Faun. Bor.-Am. as found on the Saskatchewan, and was found 

 commonly on the Mackenzie by Mr. Ross. I frequently observed it in New Brunswick during 

 the autumn and winter, but do not think it remains there to breed. In the winter it was found 

 abundantly by Dr. Coues in North Carolina from October to April ; but I never observed or 

 heard of it in Texas when I was there, though I found the Goosander in that State. On the 

 west coast it was found by Mr. Bannister commonly at St. Michael's, in Alaska, during the 

 summer, and was the only species of Mergus noticed by him there at that season ; and Mr. Dall 

 received it from Sitka and Kadiak through Bischoff, and killed one in May near Nulato, and 

 several at St. Michael's in July. He also found six nests on a small island in the Yukon. How 

 far south it is met with on the west coast I cannot say ; but it is recorded from California. 



The present species may be met with both on the sea-coast and also frequenting fresh 

 water, and is not unfrequently found in lakes and rivers, especially in the latter where they 

 flow into the sea. In the Gulf of Bothnia, where the sea is fresh water, I found it extremely 

 common in the summer season, frequenting the coasts, and less seldom on the inland lakes, 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. It 

 is 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 sort 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 power of flight. It flies with great swiftness ; and I 

 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, which it catches with great facility whilst diving. Sand-eels, freshwater eels, 



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