MEHGrS. 187 



Genus MERGUS Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758 p. 129. 

 Type : M. merganser, Linn. 



Mergu8=a. diTing-bird, in claeeioal Latin, from mei'go=I dive. 



Mergus merganser. Goosander. 



MergUS merganser Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 129 : 



Sweden. 



MergUS merganser Linn. ; B. 0. TT. List, 1st ed. 1S83, p. 136 ; 



Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 471. 

 Merganser castor {Linn.) ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 

 1895, p. 472. 



Jferganser = diving Goose; from mergua and anaer. Coined by Gesner, on 

 account of the bird's size. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Eesident in the 

 northern parts of Scotland^ nesting in suitable areas in 

 Sutherlandsbire, . Ross-shire, Morayshire, Perthshire, and 

 Argyllshire. Elsewhere it is chiefly a Winter Visitor to the 

 estuaries and inland waters, but rare in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys and the Outer Hebrides, and uncommon on the 

 southern coasts o£ England, Wales, and Ireland. 



General Distribution. — The Goosander inhabits the northern 

 and central pai'ts o£ Europe and northern Asia. It breeds 

 in Iceland, Scandinavia, Finland, and north Russia south- 

 wards to Denmark, east Germany, the Swiss Lakes, the 

 central Volga districts, and the Ural Mountains ; also east- 

 wards across Siberia to Kamchatka. In winter it ranges to 

 south Spain, the Mediterranean (sparingly except in the 

 Adriatic), and the Black sea ; occasionally to the coasts of 

 north Africa, from Morocco to Tunisia, and to China and 

 Japan. In central Asia and India it is represented by a 

 very nearly allied form, M. m. comatus, and in North America 

 hj another close ally, M. m. americamis. 



