OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 453 



found in its stomach. Most of these creatures are obtained by 

 diving, and sometimes when feeding in flocks the entire party of 

 birds will dive simultaneously, although it is more usual to see 

 several individuals on the surface, as if acting as sentinels to the 

 rest. The flesh of this Duck is rank and fishy, and most 

 unpalatable. 



Nidification. — The favourite breeding grounds of the Goos- 

 ander are open, swampy forests in which there are plenty of lakes 

 and rock-bound streams and rivers. It is a somewhat early 

 breeder, laying towards the end of April in the British Islands 

 and in Denmark, and a month or six weeks later in Finland. 

 Dybowsky states that it arrives at its breeding grounds near Lake 

 Baikal by the middle of April, which is early for that cold 

 region, and remains until December. The Goosander, wherever 

 it can obtain one, prefers a hole in a tree, but in sparsely-wooded 

 districts a cleft or hole in a rock or cliff not far from the water 

 is used instead. It has been known to breed in an old nest of a 

 Crow, or in the top of a pollard. According to Selby, Dresser, 

 Dybowsky, and others, the nest is sometimes made on the 

 ground amongst grass, but this must be highly exceptional, if 

 the observers named were not actually in error in identifying 

 the species. In Finland the Goosander readily avails itself of 

 boxes or hollow logs placed in the trees by the peasants, and 

 submits very patiently to the daily removal of its eggs to the 

 number sometimes of a score. The nest of this bird is slight, 

 little more than the dust and refuse at the bottom of the hole 

 selected, but warmly lined with plenty of down before the eggs 

 are incubated. The eggs are from eight to twelve in number, 

 creamy white in colour, smooth in texture, and with a satin-like 

 gloss. They measure on an average 27 inches in length by i'8 

 inch in breadth. Down tufts large and uniform grayish white. 

 Incubation lasts twenty-eight days. The young are carried to 

 the nearest water one by one in the bill of the parent, and 

 until they are considerably advanced towards maturity do not 

 stray far from the shallow water. Only one brood is reared in 

 the year. 



Diagnostic Characters. — (Nuptial plumage), Mergus, with 

 the head (crested) and upper neck black, shot with green and 



