102 
BUFF-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
attempt, in which the young strove to escape by repeated divings, we suc- 
ceeded in cutting off the retreat of one of the family, which was at length 
taken from behind a flat boat under which it had finally retreated to hide. 
We now examined the little stranger, and found it to be a young Merganser 
of this species, not bigger than the egg of a Goose, and yet already a most 
elegant epitome of its female parent, generally grey, with the rufous head 
and neck, and the rudiments of a growing crest. After suffering itself to be 
examined with great calmness, and without any apparent fear, we restored 
it to its more natural element, and, at the first effort, this little diminutive 
of its species flew under the water like an arrow, and coming out to the 
surface only at considerable distances, we soon lost sight of it, making 
good its aquatic retreat in quest of the parent. On inquiry, we learned 
from the tavern-keeper, that for several years past a nest or brood of these 
birds had annually been seen near this solitary and secluded island.” 
The male Goosanders leave the females immediately after incubation has 
commenced, and are then seen in the wildest parts of the country. Several 
females are often found breeding on the same island, and it is after their 
young are pretty well grown, that they moult. For a number of years 
past, I have sometimes entertained a hope, at the approach of the breeding 
season, of finding a male Goosander having his head adorned with a broad 
erectile crest, like that of the female and young, but I have hitherto been 
disappointed, and am therefore unable to say whether such a crest ever 
exists in that sex. The young of both sexes retain the colouring of the 
female for two years, during which time the males can be distinguished 
from the females only by their being much larger. The males have not the 
rich buffy tint on the breast until about two years after they have com- 
menced breeding, and the first perceptible change by which their sex is 
distinguished is the appearance of black feathers on the head and neck. 
Until of late years, the females were thought to be of a distinct species, to 
which the name of Dun Diver was given. 
Many writers have said that this bird breeds in the hollows of trees, or on 
their branches; but of the various nests which I have found, not one occurred 
in such situations ; and the Hooded Merganser is the only species of this 
genus which I have observed nestling in an elevated place. 
The notes of the Goosander are harsh, consisting of hoarse croaks, seldom 
uttered unless the bird be suddenly startled, or when courting. The females 
are usually silent, but when with their young brood, and pursued, they emit 
the same guttural sounds as the males. Goosanders are easily caught with 
hooks baited with fish ; my friend John Bachman has procured them in 
this manner on the Hudson River, and I also have on the Ohio. 
