BIRDS 309 



on the 4th of October 1888. When the tide ebbs, some 

 Goosanders go down with it seaward, but others rest sitting 

 nearly upright on a gravel scar or on the sods at the end of 

 the marsh. I have more than once walked on to the top of 

 these birds ; the haste with which they bustled off afforded not 

 a little amusement. It is really a pity that the poor things 

 should be so hard shot, because the fowlers get only a meagre 

 price for them ; yet, when one of these large ducks comes 

 swinging up channel at a brisk pace, the temptations to c let 

 drive ' is trying to most sportsmen, even though the chance of 

 retrieving a wounded or dead bird from the race of the tide may 

 be a poor one. Its flight, though heavier than that of the Mer- 

 ganser, is free and vigorous ; to see a fine old pair of Goosanders 

 flighting up the Eden from Burgh to their favourite pool at 

 Rickerby, above Carlisle, soon after the break of day, is quite 

 enough to season an early river-side ramble with contentment. 

 During the frosty days of December 1890 a flock of Goosanders 

 frequented the Eden near Langwathby, three of them being in 

 the adult male livery. The old males were sufficiently wary 

 to elude their persecutors, but their companions were less 

 fortunate. R. Eaine shot four or five of them to feed his tame 

 Peregrine, and others fell to local marksmen. E. Raine, being 

 an artistic and thoughtful taxidermist, took special pains to 

 study the attitudes adopted by these Goosanders when neither 

 flighting, nor diving, nor swimming. He found that their usual 

 posture of repose was to poise themselves nearly upright upon 

 a sheet of ice or a rock in the river-bed ; a conclusion which 

 agreed closely with our studies of Goosanders at the mouth of 

 the same river. In the spring of 1892 a party of eight 

 Goosanders lingered on the waters of the same part of the Eden 

 until the 20th of March. This is rather a late date for these 

 birds to be found in the interior of Lakeland. As a rule they 

 seem to prefer to withdraw to the estuary waters shortly before 

 their final departure to more northern breeding-grounds. 



