70 
GOOSANDER. 
MERGUS MERGAmER. 
[Plate LXVIIL— Fig. 1, Male.'] 
Gmel. Systr I, p. 544, Ab. 2.*— Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 828, A'b. 1. Gen. Syn. Ill, p, 418 ; Id* 
Sup. II, p. 336. — Bewick, II, p, 228, — UHarle., Briss. VI, p. 231, pi. 22; UHarle 
cendrci ou le Bievre^ Id. p. 254, No. 7, pi. 25, young male? — Le Harle^ Buff. VIII, p. 
267, pi. 23. PI. Enl. 951. — Arct. Zool. No. 465. — Br. ZooL No. 260, pi. 92, male and 
female. — Grand Harle^'V'S.TAU. Man. d^ Orn. p. 881. — Le Harlevulgaire,C\j\. R^g. An. I, 
p. 540. — Montagu, Orn. Die. Sup. — Peale’s Ao. 2932. 
TPIIS large and handsomely marked bird belongs to a genus 
different from that of the Duck, on account of the particular form 
and serratures of its bill. The genus is characterised as follows : 
“ BUI toothed, slender, cylindrical, hooked at the point ; nostrils 
small, oval, placed in the middle of the bill ; feet four-toed, the 
outer toe longest.” Naturalists have denominated it Merganser. 
In this country the birds composing this genus are generally known 
by the name of Fishermen, or Fisher Ducks. The whole number 
of known species amounts to only nine or ten, dispersed through 
various quarters of the world ; of these, four species, of which the 
present is the largest, are known to inhabit the United States. 
From the common habit of these birds in feeding on fin-fish 
and shell-fish, their flesh is held in little estimation, although com- 
monly fat, both smelling and tasting strongly of fish ; but such are 
the various peculiarities of tastes, that persons are not wanting 
who pretend to consider them capital meat. 
The Goosander, called by some the Water Pheasant, and by 
others the Sheldrake, Fisherman, Diver, &c., is a winter inhabitant 
of the seashores, fresh water lakes, and rivers of the United States. 
