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 tranks o f trees bv the
settlers for the use o f 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 hank o f the river, a decayed trank
with a hole in its middle; the bird enters and lays her eggs in i t ; presently the peasant comes and takes away
the eggs, except one or two. The bird 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. She is defrauded o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 o f 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 the northern parts o f England, that it is also seen on the broads
and decoys o f Norfolk, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire, and that the Ribble, the Trent, and. the Thames may
enumerate it among the birds which irregularly plash down upon their glassy surface. Those that do. so
are, however, 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 was.
Head and upper part o f the neck black, glossed with green and purple; remainder o f the neck breast
and under surface beautiful rich buff, fading into white on the tips o f the under tail-coverts, and minutely
undulated w,th grey on the thighs ; upper part o f the back and inner scapularies deep rich black • outer
scapulartes buff; centre o f the back dark grey, lower part o f the back and rump light grey, undulated with
dark grey; tad slate-grey, with black shafts: o f the lesser wing-coverts those nearest the body are grey
with a band o f black at the tip, while those along the margin o f the shoulder have an additional band of
white, the remainder o f the lesser and all the greater coverts creamy white; primaries blackish brown,
becoming much lighter on their inner webs; secondaries creamy white, with a wash of brown near the tip
of the inner j p b ; tertiaries buff, the first four with a narrow line of black along the margin o f thefijter
web, the fifth similarly margined on both webs, and the sixth narrowly margined on the- outer web and
stained with black on the inner web near the tip ; bill rich deep blood-red, with the exception o f the culmen
and the tip o f the upper and the under surface o f the lower mandible, which are black; legs and feet orange-
red, webs darker; nails pale brown ; irides crimson-red.
The young male has the throat whitish; head and upper part of the neck deep rusty brown; upper surface
grey, with a dark centre to each featber; under surface white, washed in some parts deeper than in others
with buff; wing-coverts grey, with black shafts ; primaries as in the adult; posterior portion o f the greater
coverts and the secondaries white, on the apical half of their outer webs, back, and tail as in adult • bill
feet, and eyes also, but paler. ’ ’
The Plate represents a male and a female, somewhat smaller than the size o f life, with a reduced figure of
a Kingfisher in the distance.