Mr. Alfred Newton informs me that both, in Lapland and Southern Sweden, Mr. Wolley invariably found 
the Goosander breeding in holes of trees, or in artificial nest-boxes affixed to the trunks of trees bv the 
settlers for the use of this species and the Golden-eye. This therefore must be regarded as its usual mode 
of nidification ; and it is only when trees fail, as in Iceland, that it adopts the plan of forming its nest 
in the open. 
Old Acerbi, quoted by Mr. Yarrell, states, in his ‘ Travels in Lapland,’ that “ The person who waylays the 
bird for her eggs places against a fir or pine tree, somewhere near the bank of tbe river, a decayed trunk 
with a hole in its middle ; the bird enters and lays her eggs in it ; presently the peasant comes and takes away 
the eggs, excei)t one or two. The bii'd returns, and, finding but a single egg, lays two or three more, which 
are purloined in the same manner, the bird again returns and, as if she had forgotten the eggs she had laid, 
proceeds once more to complete the intended number. Sbe is defrauded of her eggs as before, and continues 
repeating the same process four or five times, when the peasant, who has by this time gathered perhaps a score 
of eggs from the same nest, suffers her to lay the last for the increase of her family. As soon as the eggs are 
hatched, the mother takes the chicks gently in her bill, carries and lays them down at the foot of the tree, 
where she teaches them the way to the river, in which they instantly swim with astonishing rapidity.” 
This account of the Goosander would be incomplete without a word on its flight. When the bird is 
hard pressed and cannot escape by diving, it readily takes wing and flies vigorously. If chased in a boat, 
while ascending our inland rivers, it frequently eludes the pursuer by diving back under the boat and rising 
again at a distance out of gun-shot. When on the surface and unmolested, it swims deep in the water, with 
its neck upright and its tail wholly submerged. 
In conclusion, although I have given prominence to the Clumber Lake, I must state that in winter it visits 
in small numbers all similar waters in tbe northern parts of England, that it is also seen on the broads 
and decoys of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire, and that the Kibble, the Trent, and the Thames may 
enumerate it among the birds which irregularly plash down upon their glassy surface. Those that do so 
are, how-ever, generally males in their plain dress, or females, and are known to gunners and country-people 
as Dun Divers and Saw-bills. So seldom do they see the male in his fine spring plumage, that, if they did, 
they would not know what it Avas. 
Head and upper part of the neck black, glossed Avith green and purple ; remainder of the neck, breast, 
and under surface beautiful rich buff, fading into Avhite on tbe tips of tbe under tail-coA^erts, and minutely 
undulated Avith grey on tbe thighs ; upper part of the back and inner scapularies deep rich black ; outer 
scapularies buff ; centre of the back dark grey, loAver part of the back and rump light grey, undulated Avitli 
dark grey ; tail slate-grey, Avith black shafts : of the lesser Aving-coverts those nearest the body are grey, 
Avith a band of black at the tip, Avhile those along the margin of the shoulder have an additional band of 
wdilte, the remainder of the lesser and all the greater coverts creamy Avhite ; primaries hlackish broAvn, 
becoming much lighter on their inner Avebs ; secondaries creamy Avhite, AA'ith a Avash of broAvn near the tip 
of the inner web ; tertiaries buff, the first four Avith a narroAv line of black along the margin of the outer 
Aveb, the fifth similarly margined on both webs, and the sixth narroAvly margined on the outer Aveb, and 
stained with black on the inner web near the tip ; bill rich deep blood-red, Avith the exception of the culmen 
and the tip of the upper and the under surface of the loAver mandible, Avhich are black ; legs and feet orange- 
red, Avebs darker ; nails pale brown ; irides crimson-red. 
The young male has the throat Avhitish; head and upper part of the neck deep rusty broAvn ; upper surface 
grey, with a dark centre to each feather ; under surface white, Avashed in some parts deeper than in others 
Avith buff ; wing-coverts grey, Avith black shafts ; primaries as in the adult ; posterior portion of the greater 
coverts and the secondaries white, on the apical half of their outer Avebs, back, and tall as in adult ; bill, 
feet, and eyes also, but paler. 
The Plate represents a male and a female, someAvhat smaller than the size of life, with a reduced figure of 
a Kingfisher in the distance. 
