488 FEMALE GOOSANDER. 



The above description was taken from a fine full-plumaged 

 male, which was shot in the vicinity of Philadelphia in the 

 month of January. It was in good condition, and weighed 

 three pounds thirteen ounces avoirdupois.] 



FEMALE GOOSANDER 



PLATE LXVIII.— Fig. 2. 



Peak'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 Fenielle, 

 Bnss. vi. p. 236, Buff. viii. p. 272, PL enl. 953. 



MERGUS MERGANSER.— Linnjsus. 



Syn. of Fern, or Young. — Mergus castor, Linn. Syst. i. 209.— Merganser cinereus, 

 Bi'iss. Orn. vi. 254. — Dun Diver, or Sparring Fowl, Mont. Bew. &c. — Goos- 

 ander Female, Selby's Ilhist. pi. lvii. 



This 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 sorrel colour ; chin and throat, white ; the crest 

 shoots out in long radiating flexible stripes; upper part of 

 the body, tail, and flanks, an ashy slate, tinged with brown ; 

 primaries, black; middle secondaries, white, forming a^large 

 speculum on the wing ; greater coverts, black, tipt for half an 

 inch with white ; sides of the breast, from the sorrel-coloured 

 part of the neck downwards, very pale ash, with broad semi- 

 circular touches of white ; belly and lower part of the breast 

 a fine yellowish cream colour — a distinguishing trait also in 

 the male ; legs and feet, orange red. 



[It is truly astonishing with what pertinacity Montagu ad- 

 heres to the opinion that the dun diver is a species distinct 

 from the goosander. Had tbis excellent ornithologist had the 

 same opportunities for examining these birds that we have, he 



