NATATORES. ANATIDÆ.
T H E GOOSANDER.
Mergvs merganser,
>*.1 ■ castor , ‘r.\
" merganser,
'^■ Castor,
merganser,
,, castor,
' ,, merganser,
» ' Wi—
_* »• - »
>>
» I - ?’
TKe Goosander,
DundLiver,
,, Goosander,
,, Dûnaîver,
,, Goosander,
Ikmdiver,
PennT Britr-Z'doh vôfl
’ 7.,^, M 'r i-> - i
M ont. Omith. Diet.
Bewick,. Briti Birds,'.vul. ii. p. 266.
I I I g g W I 269.
7, Green-headed, Goosander, Fiem. Brit. 128.
The G o o s a n d e r ,ësL^tifctJOÀifl». vol. ii. p. 375.
|â \ Jeny^is, Brit. Vert. pj^,48»;
» H B Goved, Birdstof Europe, p t.i.
brand Harle, T^Temm. Mau. d’Ornith. vol. ii. p. 881.
T h e . G o o sa n d e r , the 'largest of the British Mergansers,
a male and female of which are figured abnye, is rather to
be considered as a winter visiter only to our islands, although
a small number remain to breed annually among the lochs
in some northern localities to be hereafter, pointed out.
These birds usually make their appearance in November,
especially in severe le a th e r, and remain till the end of
March; but the greater proportion of them are females, or
young birds of the year: the fully adult male maybe considered
as the . most rare. All of them frequent fresh-water
lakes as .well as the sea-shore and estuaries, but if severe
frost occurs they are driven to the shelter of deep bays,
where^ by their powers of diving they are able to obtain a
supply -of fish, the principal object .sought after as food.
Possessing strong tooth-like processes on the bill, by which
it is “enabled to’.hold a slippery prey, this bird, like the
Re^Breasted Merganser* is klao called Sawbill and Jacksaw.
Goosanders in any state are rare visiters rto the southern
counties of England, but have been killed during hard winters
in,.Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, and eastward to
Sussex, Kent, and Essex. A few are occasionally exposed,
for sale in winter in the London markets, and specimens
are obtained in Suffolk; Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and northward
to Durham, and, Northumberland. In Sutherlandshire,
Mr. Selby mentions that two or three birds of this species
were seen in June 1884, during the Natural History excursion,
but nO> nest or breeding station detected. Mr. J .
Macgillivray, in his recently published notes on the Zoology
of the Outer Hebrides, says the Goosander is pretty common,
breeding close to the larger lakes, and occasionally by the
sea, as near Loch Maddy in North Uist. In Ireland, Mr.
Thompson, of Belfast, observes, that the Goosander is only a
regular winter visiter.. The Rev. Mr. Low, in his Natural
History of. Orkney, says, “ With us the Goosander continues
the whole year, and maybe seen every day in numbers
on the lakes and in the sea ; builds on the small holms
of the loch of Stenness, along with other birds ; in harvest
and in . winter fly in flocks, in summer in pairs; the male
and female are then strict companions, but, like many other