The Goosander 95 
the beginning of May, and with the latter at the end, whereas in the far north the time is postponed for 
more than half a month." 
In the foregoing paragraph Naumann is evidently labouring under the delusion that 
young male Goosanders of the previous year pair and breed in the following spring. 
It is quite a mistake to think they will do so, nor do they assume more than a small 
portion of the adult plumage — only, in fact, a few feathers of black on the lower neck. 
The Goosander is a very early breeder, and full clutches are often to be found in 
Scotland as early as the end of April. In Scotland the species generally nests in holes 
in the rocks or amongst bushes or peat-hags near running water, but sometimes the female 
goes a considerable distance from the loch or stream in order to find a suitable hiding- 
place for the nest. In a letter to me Mr. Heatley Noble says : " I have seen a nest in 
a hole in an old Mountain Ash which was used by Goosanders for many years ; two 
others in rocks near a burn, one in a hole in a rock a long way from water, and two 
others in peat-hags near a little stream. Goosanders seem to prefer the nest near running 
water rather than by a loch." 
In North-Eastern Germany it would appear that the Goosander usually nests in trees, 
of which Dr. E. Hartert in the Neuer Nanmaitn (x. p. 296) gives the following account : 
" As has been already remarked, the Goosander is a bird which breeds fairly frequently in the well- 
wooded country near inland lakes, and in the tracts of country near rivers in the north-eastern part 
of Germany, especially in Prussia, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Schleswig-Holstein, and the Mark 
Brandenburg. From the latter place we have to thank H. Hocke especially for his interesting 
information about the breeding and manner of life of the species. The people — i.e. the fishermen, 
herdsmen, and woodmen — know the bird almost everywhere under the name of Baumgans or tree-goose, 
Baumente or tree-duck, but never as Sawyer (Sager). 
" Wherever the Goosander can, it breeds in holes of trees. In Prussia, the Mark, and Mecklenburg 
it might almost be said that the nests are never found anywhere except in the hollows of trees. I once 
found a sitting under the roots of a pine thrown down by a storm in a hollow of the level ground about 
the length of one's arm, but with this exception invariably at a height of about i to 1 5 metres above the 
ground. Hocke's remarks agree with this too {Deutsche Jagerzeitung, 1889; Gefiederte Welt, 1899; 
Zeitschr. f. Oologie), Wustnei and Clodius {Vogel Mecklenburgs, p. 305), Szielasko and other fellow- 
workers of the Zeitschrift fiir Oologie, and others in addition. The Merganser, however, places its nest 
differently in places where there are no suitable hollows in the trees. In Iceland, for instance, where 
there are no trees, it always breeds on the level ground, almost in the same way as has been described 
in the case of the Red-breasted Merganser, but still generally less in the open and more hidden. In 
Scotland it prefers holes in the trees, but where there is a scarcity of trees it nests too between overgrown 
entangled roots, under overhanging banks, among large blocks of rock, &c., but never quite open from 
above, as is sometimes the case with the Red-breasted Merganser. If a Saw-bill's nest is found in the 
cavity of a tree, high up, one can be sure that it is the property of a Goosander, but nests standing 
on the ground may belong to this species just as well as to the Red-breasted Merganser.^ 
" It is often in very deep hollow tree-trunks that the Goosander breeds, and it is then often very 
difficult to get to the eggs without help, if one cannot cut through it from below, as may easily be done 
occasionally in the case of old rotten trunks. I have found full sittings in East Prussia at the end of April 
and the beginning of May, also later, but Hocke and others have got them much earlier in the Mark 
Brandenburg. In the Zeitschrift fur Oologie, 1898, Nr. 6, pp. 21, 22, is to be found the following infor- 
mation : ' April I.— Owing to storm and rain I am obliged to seek shelter under a hollow oak on the 
Havel River. I am starded by a sudden noise, and notice that a Goosander flies out of the oak. My 
1 The nest itself might easily be confused, but the down and the eggs of the two species are quite distinct.— -J. G. M. 
