358 
SWIMMERS. 
AMERICAN MERGANSER. 
GOOSANDER. BUFF-BREASTED SHELLDRAKE. SAW-BILL. 
Merganser .mmericanus. 
Char. Head and neck black, with green reflections; back and scapu- 
lars black ; rump slate gray ; wings brown, varied with white ; a black bar 
across the white wing-coverts; under p.arts white, tinged with delicate 
salmon pink, which soon fades after death ; bill bright red; legs and feet 
orange. Length about 26 inches. The female is smaller, the head and 
neck are chestnut, and the feathers of the neck are elongated to a con- 
spicuous crest. 
Nest. Usually in a hollow tree, — often in a wooden box set for its use 
by egg-hunters; sometimes in a hole in a cliff or under a rock, or even in 
an abandoned nc.st in a tree ; made of grass, leaves, and moss, and thickly 
lined with down. 
Ei^s. 6-12 (usually about 8) ; creamy white ; size very variable, aver- 
age about 2.65 X t.So. 
The Goosander inhabits the remote northern regions of both 
continents, being seen during summer on the borders of grassy 
lakes and streams throughout the whole of the fur countries, 
and is among the latest of its tribe in autumn to seek an 
asylum in milder climates. It is said to breed in every lati- 
tude in the Russian empire, but mostly in the north. It is 
common also in Kamtschatka, and extends through northern 
Europe to the wintry shores of Iceland and Greenland. Many 
of these birds, however, pass the breeding-season in the Ork- 
neys, and these scarcely ever find any necessity to migrate. 
I hey are seen in small families or companies of six or eight in 
the United States in winter, and frequent the sea-shores, lakes, 
and rivers, continually diving in quest of their food, which con- 
sists principally of fish and shelly molhisca. They are also 
very gluttonous and voracious, like the Albatross, sometimes 
swallowing a fish too large to enter whole into the stomach, 
which therefore lodges in the oesophagus till the lower part is 
digested, before the remainder can follow. I'he roughness of 
the tongue, covered with incurved projections, and the form of 
the bent serratures which edge the bill, appear all purposely 
contrived with reference to its piscatory habits. In the course 
