GOOSANDER. 581 
them ; and, what is somewhat singular, the crests of these and of the 
females are actually longer than those of the full-grown male, though 
thinner towards its extremities. These circumstances have induced 
some late ornithologists to consider them as two different species, the 
young, or female, having been called the Dun Diver. By this 
arrangement, they have entirely deprived the Goosander of his 
female ; for, in the whole of my examinations and dissections of the 
easy species, I have never yet found the female in his dress. What 
consider as undoubtedly the true female of this species, is figured in 
-No. 276. They were both shot in the month of April, in the same creek, 
unaccompanied by any other; and, on examination, the sexual parts 
of each were strongly and prominently marked. The windpipe of the 
female had nothing remarkable in it; that of the male had two very 
large expansions, which have been briefly described by Willoughby, 
who says—“It hath a large, bony labyrinth on the windpipe, just 
above the divarications; and the windpipe hath, besides, two swell- 
ings out, one above another, each resembling a. powder puff.” These 
labyrinths are the distinguishing characters of the males; and are 
always found, even in young males who have not yet thrown off the 
plumage of the female, as well as in the old ones. If we admit these 
Dun Divers to be a distinct species, we can find no difference between 
their pretended females and those of the Goosander, only one kind of 
female of this sort being known; and this is contrary to the usual 
analogy of the other three species, viz., the Red-breasted Merganser, 
the Hooded, and the Smew, all of whose females are well known, and 
bear the same comparative resemblance in color to their respective 
males, the length of crest excepted, as the female Goosander (Fig. 
276) bears to him, ; 
Having thought thus much necessary on this disputed point, I leave 
each to form his own opinion on the facts and reasoning produced. 
FEMALE GOOSANDER. — Fia. 276. 
Peale’s Museum, No. 2933. — Dun Diver, Lath. Syn. iii: p. 240.— Arct. Zool. No. 
465. — Bewick’s Brit. Birds, ii. p. 23. — Turt. Syst. p. 335. — L’Harle femelle, 
Briss. vi. p. 236. — Buff. viii. p. 272. Pl. enl. 953. 
MERGUS MERGANSER. — Linnxvs, 
Syn. of. Fem. or Young. Mere castor, Linn. Syst. i. 209.— Merganser cine- 
reus, Briss. Orn. vi. 254.— Dun Diver, or Sparling Fowl, Mont. Bew. &c.— 
Goosander Female, Selby’s Ilust. pl. LVIL. 
Tus generally measures an inch or two shorter than the male; the 
length of the present specimen was twenty-five inches; extent, 
thirty-five inches; bill, crimson on the sides, black above ; irides, 
reddish; crested head and part of the neck, dark brown, lightest on 
the sides of the neck, where it inclines to a sorel color; chin and 
throat, white ; the — shoots out in long, radiating, flexible stripes ; 
“ 
