GOOSANDER 
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GOOSANDER. 
(Mergus merganser.) 
Dun Diver, Sawbill. — This and the next species 
are fish-eating ducks of curious appearance, their 
long, saw-edged bills, turned over at the point, 
giving them very much the look of Cormorants 
about the head. The Goosander is a fairly frequent 
winter visitor to inland waters in the more easterly 
parts of England, and breeds sparingly in some parts 
of the Scotch Highlands. The old male birds 
(though belonging to the Duck tribe, they are not 
sufficiently Duck-like to make it seem natural to 
speak of them as " Drakes have a red bill, a 
dark green head and upper neck, a white breast 
and belly, and upper parts black and grey, with a 
large white patch on the wing. There is a tuft or 
crest at the back of the head. The females, and 
immature young, have the head and neck red- 
brown, the upper parts chiefly grey, with the 
quill-feathers of the wings brown, and the under 
parts yellowish-white, stained with grey on the 
flanks. They breed about the end of April or in 
May, making a nest of grass, roots, and the down 
of the old bird, in some hole, generally in or 
under a tree, or sometimes on a ledge of rock. 
The eight to a dozen eggs are larger than those 
of the Mallard, and yellowish-white, without spots. 
