364 G O O S A N D E R .
As to the djjg, we: need him f|f|j^s:@ lie thee down, Baron, until I return.
I was -always load of ''paddling ray own canoe.;" andsl never
met with- a single accident'-sii long as I managed it myself if hut cm
more occasions than one I have boon turned o'ut as gently as one turns
himself in bed, and having put the trail bark to rights, have assisted
the awkward fiillow who had caused the disaster, dived for- his* gun and
my own, and conducted him to the Camp to dry his garments. Therefore,
be quiet, and fear nothing. siS^fÉ what's that ? Nothing, friend,
but the Read of a musk-rat, But look there, how swiftly swims that
beautiful I.oonlli Heed him not ; have I- not already told: .you all that
I know'about'him ? How .smooth and silvery are the pure waters,
how beautiful those tall .trees ! The dogwood is in full bloom,- so are
the maples, whose rich red blossoms cluster: on the twigs. Herfc wo
are j'ùBt- entering the rushes of this little island. * Get out, ami wade to
the. shore with allv possible gentleness; or alliiiw irie- tCido- so ; for --to
lighten our slight bark, one of us must get intofghe water. -.SfU'tlv we
advance as I pull the canoe by the bow ; but non-, squat, for here are
tracks of the Goosander. • There now lies the female clofse' before us.
She thinks we have not.sèêii her,'for she crouches-closer upbn beneg^.
Alarm her not, or she will soon depurt. There she croaks, and scrambling
off through the tall grass, flies off on rapid wings. Look at the.
nesil!-*:omit the eggs if you ehoiist-r^but allow mo, if you please, to describe
t hem.
The islands on which the Goosander is. wont to hrcfed are mostly
.«mull, as if selected for the purpose of allowing the* .sitting-bird to get
soon to the water in case of danger. The nest is wry Jargo. atU-imê.s
raised'sevon or eight inches on thé top of a bed of all the dead weeds
which the bird can gather in the neighbourhood1. Properly Speaking,
the real nest, however, is not larger than that of the Dusky1 Duck, and
is rallier neatly formed externally of fibrous roots, and lined round the
edges with the ilmm of the bird. The interior is about: seven and a
half inches in diameter, and four inches in depth. There are. seldom
more than seven or eight eggs, which measure.- two: inches and séveneighths
in length, by two inches in breadth, are of an elliptical form,
being nearly equally rounded at both ends, .smooth, and of a uniform
dull cronm-taUour. The young are led to the water in a few hours after
they are hatched, and are covered with fur-like hair, of a reddish-brown
colour about the head and -neck, the body lightisli.grey. They are ex-
G O O S A N D E R . 265
cellcnt divers, and rmi on the surface with surprising velocity ; but
they are not able to fly for nearly two months, -«hen, being fat, they
are easily fatiguedlif closely pursued, and ops^,oc cas ions will often
b e t a k e themselves to the shore, lie down, a n d e v e n allow .you to' lay
hold of them My friend Thomas Nwtam. has given an interesting
account of his chase of a brood of Go.isar.dors......
« Early m the month-of May 1832, while descending the Susqu,ehajmah
..near t'O Dunstown, alow mil.-s below the -(forgo of the Alleghanies,
througJj^M.ch that river meanders near the foot of the Bald
Eagle Mountain, G. Lyman, Esq, and myself observed, near the head,
of a .little bushy isjapd^some Wtt^ Duck, as we thought, with her '
brood, making off round a poipt which closed the view. - On rowing to
the spji.i, the wily: parent had still continued:* her retreat, and we gave
.chase « the party, which with,all the exertions that could be made in
rowing, still kept, at a respectful d^tf^ei'jbefore.iisl We now perceived
that those diminutive possessors of tlioir natal island were a female
Goosander ..r Dun Diver, with-a siuall^rrtiactive little brood of
eight young .(¡n.ftjli On pushing the: diase fop-near .half an hour;- the
young, becoming somewhat, fatigued, drew a round their natural protector,
who no,w and then bore ..them along crowding on her back. At
length, stealing yearly from our sight, as the chase relaxed, the mother
landed at a distance, ¡on the. gravelly shore, which being nearly of
her own grey colour and that of her family, served forborne time, as a
complete concealment. When approached again, however, they took
to the water, and-after a,s.K,cjmd attempt, in which the. young strove to
escape by repeated divings, we succeeded 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, ami found it to be a young Merganser of thisispecies,
not bigger than the egg of a Goose,i and yet already a most elegant
epitome of its l£mal<! 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 iliminutivi! 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