THE RED- BREASTED MERGANSER. 
167 
Mr. Yarrell does not mention any breeding-haunt of this species 
in England either at the present or any former period. Scotland 
and its islands, however, have always been known as resorted 
to for the purpose of nidification, and we find both the fresh- 
water and marine loughs of Ireland to be so. Pennant mentions 
this bird as breeding in the island of Islay, which it does 
at the present time. When there, in January 1819, several, 
among which were adult males, came under my notice — I learned 
that a pair bred in the preceding summer near the sea-beach of 
the island, at Ardimersy, but that they do not nidify about the 
little inland fresh-water lakes, or tarns, in at least the south-east 
portion of the island. They are called grey divers . Numbers 
breed annually on the marine islets off Islay, laying from ten to 
twelve eggs. 
The late Mr. G. Matthews informed me, on his return from 
the coast of Norway, that a species of Mergus (M. senator most 
probably, from description) was seen in numbers at Bergsfiord in 
September and October. Several were shot there, and, though 
tame and easily approached, they generally, unless killed dead, 
escaped by diving, having, as was remarked, “the power appa- 
rently to remain under water for ever. The manner in which 
they out-manoeuvred us gave us some hearty laughs. ” Captain 
May was told during his sporting tour in 1849, before alluded 
to, that — “the Quans, who live along the banks of the Alten in 
Norway, make boxes and place them in the birch-trees at the 
river-side for the mergansers to lay in, and when a good number 
of eggs have been deposited, they rob the nests.” The Mergus 
merganser , or goosander, may, however, here be meant, as it is 
well known to build in trees in Scandinavia. A statement just 
similar to that given, but in reference to the golden-eye duck, has 
been contributed by Mr. Dann to Mr. YarrelFs work. 
North America, as well as Europe, claims this very handsome 
species. 
