\ 
GOOSANDER. 579 
changeable, resplendent bronze green, bordere above by a band of 
white, and below with another of velvety blaci; rest of the’ wing, 
dusky, some of the tertials streaked down their middles with white ; 
tail, dusky, pointed, broadly edged with white; legs and feet, reddish 
orange, hind toe not finned. 
With the above another was shot, which differed in having the 
breast spotted with dusky, and the back with white; the green plumage 
of the head intermixed with gray, and the belly with circular touches 
of white, evidently a young male in its imperfect plumage. 
' The female has the crown of a dusky brown; rest of the head and 
neck, yellowish white, thickly spotted with dark brown; these spots 
on the breast become larger, and crescent shaped ; back and scapulars, 
dark brown, edged and centred with yellow’ ochre; belly, slightly 
rufous, mixed with white ; wing, nearly as in the male. : 
On dissection, the labyrinth in the windpipe of the male was found 
to be small; the trachea itself, seven inches long ; the intestines, nine 
feet nine inches in length, and about the thickness of a crow quill. 
GOOSANDER.— MERGUS MERGANSER. — Fie. 275. — Mats. 
L’Harle, Briss. vi. p. 231, 1, pl. 22.— Buff. viii. p. 267, pl. 23. — Arct. Zool. 465. 
— Bath. Syn. ii. p. 418.— Peale’s Museum, No. 2932. 
MERGUS MERGANSER, — Linn xvs.* 
Goosander, or Merganser, Mont. Ornith. Dict. and Supp.— Bew. Br. Birds, ii. p. 
254, — Selby’s lust. pl. 57.— Mergus merganser, Bonap. Synop. p. 397.— 
Flem. Br. Anim. p. 128.— Grande harle, Temm. Man. d? Ornith. ii. 881. 
Turs large and handsomely-marked bird belongs to a genus differ- 
ent from that of the Duck, or account of the particular form and serra- 
* The genus Mergus has been universally allowed. It contains nine or ten 
species, allied in their general form, but easily distinguished by their plumage. 
They are truly aquatic, and never quit the sea or lakes except for a partial repose 
or pluming, or during the time of incubation. ‘Thcir food is entirely fish, and they 
are necessarily expert divers ; the bill is lengthened and natrow, its edges regularly 
serrated with recurved points. The breeding places of many of them are yet un- 
known, but I believe that the greater proportion at that season retire inland to the 
more sequestered Jakes. Iam also of opinion that: the male forsakes his mate so 
soon as she begins to sit, about which time he also loses the beautiful crest and 
plumage in which he is clothed during winter and spring, and assumes a duller 
garb. The males are remarkable for their difference from the other sex, whence 
the long-disputed joint, now satisfactorily proved, of this and the following bird 
being different. That of the male is generally black, or glossy green, contrasted 
with the purest white, or rich shades of tawny yellow; that of the females, the 
chaster grays and browns. Both are furnished with crests, composed of loose, 
hackled feathers. 
The distribution of the group seems to be European, and both continents of 
America. I have seen none from India or New Holland, though from the former 
country they might be expected. 
The Goosander is a native of both continents, and is said to breed in the northern 
parts of Scotland. This Ihave had no opportunity of verifying. It is frequent 
during winter on the larger rivers, in flocks of seven or eight, in which there is 
