BUFF-BREASTED MERGANSER. 391 



attempt, in which the young strove to escape by repeated divings, we 

 succeeded in cutting off the retreat of one of the family, which was at length 

 taken from behind a flat boat under which it had finally retreated to hide. 

 We*5ow examined the little stranger, and found it to be a young Merganser 

 of this species, not bigger than the egg of a Goose, and yet already a most 

 elegant epitome of its female parent, generally grey, with the rufous head 

 and neck, and the rudiments of a growing crest. After suffering itself to be 

 examined with great calmness, and without any apparent fear, we restored it 

 to its more natural element, and, at the first effort, this little diminutive of 

 its species flew under the water like an arrow, and coming out to the surface 

 only at considerable distances, we soon lost sight of it, making good its 

 aquatic retreat in quest of the parent. On inquiry, we learned from the 

 tavern-keeper, that for several years past a nest or brood of these birds had 

 annually been seen near this solitary and secluded island." 



The male Goosanders leave the females immediately after incubation has 

 commenced, and are then seen in the wildest parts of the country. Several 

 females are often found breeding on the same island, and it is after their 

 young are pretty well grown, that they moult. For a number of years 

 past, I have sometimes entertained a hope, at the approach of the breeding 

 season, of finding a male Goosander having his head adorned with a broad 

 erectile crest, like that of the female and young, but I have hitherto been 

 disappointed, and am therefore unable to say whether such a crest ever 

 exists in that sex. The young of both sexes retain the colouring of the 

 female for two years, during which time the males can be distinguished from 

 the females only by their being much larger. The males have not the rich 

 buffy tint on the breast until about two years after they have commenced 

 breeding, and the first perceptible change by which their sex is distinguished 

 is the appearance of black feathers on the head and neck. Until of late 

 years, the females were thought to be of a distinct species, to which the 

 name of Dun Diver was given. 



Many writers have said that this bird breeds in the hollows of trees, or on 

 their branches; but of the various nests which I have found, not one occurred 

 in such situations; and the Hooded Merganser is the only species of this 

 genus which I have observed nestling in an elevated place. 



The notes of the Goosander are harsh, consisting of hoarse croaks, seldom 

 uttered unless the bird be suddenly startled, or when courting. The females 

 are usually silent, but when with their young brood, and pursued, they emit 

 the same guttural sounds as the males. Goosanders are easily caught with 

 hooks baited with fish; my friend John Bachman has procured them in this 

 manner on the Hudson river, and I also have on the Ohio. 



