172 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



but we missed from amongst them the oldest drake, a bird 

 which showed a great deal of white when it flew ; it is not im- 

 probable that it had been shot, for by this time the birds were 

 getting very shy and wild, as if they had been fired at. 



It was not until the end of January that we discovered that 

 at least eight Goosanders had been in the neighbourhood. On 

 the 24th of that month we watched at close quarters six brown- 

 headed birds fishing in a narrow portion of the mere, and two of 

 the birds we had seen previously had been green-headed adult 

 males. The portion of the mere where the birds were feeding 

 is separated from the main sheet by a shallow strait ; it is in 

 fact a sort of subsidiary pond. In the shallows the small fish 

 were jumping, no doubt frightened by the assaults of the birds. 

 Often five Goosanders were below the surface at once, and the 

 water was churned into swirls and eddies above them. At last 

 one of the birds saw us, and immediately submerged its body 

 leaving only its head and neck above the surface. Then it rose 

 followed by the others, but without a sound, save the splashing 

 of their wings and feet as they crossed the pond. Clearing the 

 water they swung round and again passed close to us, near 

 enough to reveal the detail of their plumage. During the 

 earlier part of their stay the Goosanders kept apart from the 

 Mallards, but later they often swam in company with the other 

 Ducks, and it was no unusual thing to see them standing or 

 resting on the grass of the bank amongst a large party of 

 Mallards. When this was the case, however, the Goosanders 

 were always close together, and not scattered amongst the other 

 birds. On the 1st of March we saw them on the water for the 

 last time. A week later there were no signs of Goosanders on 

 Tatton. 



On Dec. 26th, Mr. C. Oldham, Mr. F. Brownsword, and I 

 obtained an excellent view of a Little Gull as it rose from the 

 edge of the Manchester Ship Canal between Eastham and Elles- 

 mere Port. Its flight was desultory and strikingly different 

 from that of the Black-headed Gulls, with which, though there 

 were many in its immediate neighbourhood, it was not con- 

 sorting. It flew slowly up the canal, and then down again, twice 

 passing within a few yards of where we were standing on the 

 bank ; it gave us an opportunity of observing it both from above, 



