6o 
Allen’s naturalist’s librarv. 
attenuated feathers of the hind-part of the head. The female 
IS even more distinct than the male, and has the head of a dull 
pale rufous-colour, instead of chestnut, with some ercy on the 
fore-part of the crown. 
HaBits.— The Goosander breeds rather early for a northern 
bud, the eggs being laid at the end of April in Denmark, but 
in some northern localities they arc found from the middle of 
May to the middle of June. 
Of its habits Mr. Seebohn writes :-“The backward position 
of the legs of the Goosander makes it look something like a 
Cormorant on the ground, and causes it to walk clumsily, but en- 
ables It to dive with facility and swim with ease, whilst its lonir 
wings give It great power of flight. It is said that it can remain 
lor two minutes under water, and it sometimes reappears at a 
distance of fifty paces from the place where it plunged below 
the surface. It feeds almost entirely on fish, which its serrated 
jaws enable it to grasp with certainty, and it has been known 
to capture examples nearly six inches long. Water-insects and 
molluscs, and sometimes the remains of aquatic vegetation 
are also found in its stomach. The Goosander is less of a 
marine puck than most of the Diving Ducks, and appears to 
prefer rivers and small lakes to the sea-coast. It resembles 
the Diving Ducks m having a harsh note, not unlike the 
syllables karr-karr. The Goosander loves wild country a 
combination of forest, swamp, river, and rock, such as’ is 
usually to be found near the Arctic Circle or near the northern 
limit of the pine-rcgions of lofty mountain-ranges farther 
south.’ “ 
Nest.— Mr. Robert Read writes to me:— “Near Glasgow, in 
Winter, 1 counted over twenty Goosanders on a fresh-water 
loch, and have strong reasons for believing that the species 
may have bred there. A nest which I found in Perthshire 
was in the head of a hollow wych-elm tree in a steep wood 
sloping down to a large fresh water loch. It contained twelve 
eggs of a huffish tint, the last laid being much paler than the 
others. It consisted simply of a mass of down of a pale 
lavender-colour, almost white, with which was mixed up a lot 
of chips and fine particles of rotten wood.” ^ 
Mr. Seebohm further writes “The pale grey down of the 
