Page:Cassell's book of birds (IA cassellsbookofbi04breh).pdf/198

 seems to be that by so doing they come among the astonished fishes in all directions, thus enabling one bird to catch those that are trying to escape from another; but we have never seen them, as some writers assert, arrange themselves in the form of a crescent, so as to drive the fishes, as it were, into a narrow space. About the breeding of these birds we are very imperfectly informed; we know, however, that in the north of Russia they assemble in great numbers, and build their nests upon the shore, or upon small islands, sometimes in hollow trees. We know, likewise, that their nest is composed of dry broom (Genista) and grasses, lined with feathers, and that their eggs, eight to twelve in number, are of a dirty white, or greenish brown colour, but we are ignorant either of the duration of their incubation, or of the manner in which they educate their progeny.

THE GREEN-HEADED GOOSANDER.

The (Mergus merganser) differs from the preceding species not only in its greater size, but in the structure of its bill, which is elongated and compressed at its sides. In his summer dress the male is blackish green upon the head and upper neck; the upper back, shoulders, and margins of the wings are black; the whole under surface and the upper wing-covers are of a beautiful yellowish red; the wing-spot is white. The wing-quills are black, the lower tail-covers grey, finely marked with black, and the tail-feathers grey. The eye is reddish yellow, beak coral-red, and foot pale red. The female has the upper head and nape brown, the back-feathers blueish grey, the under surface of her body and the wing-spot white; the fore parts of her breast and sides are grey, marked with a darker and a lighter shade. After the summer moult the plumage of the male is very similar to that of the female, but somewhat more beautiful. The length of this species is from thirty to thirty-two inches; breadth, forty to forty-two inches; length of wing, twelve inches; length of tail, three inches.

The Green-headed Goosander inhabits the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America, being pretty equally distributed in all these continents: its migrations, which occur with much greater regularity than those of the Mergellus albellus, extend, on the one hand, to all the southern countries of Europe, the south of China, and north of India; and on the other, to the extreme south provinces of the United States. A few pairs are occasionally known to breed in the Orkneys and Hebrides, but with us by far the greater number only arrive from the north about the end of November, and return thither in February. The Green-headed Goosander may justly be regarded as one of the most beautiful of aquatic birds. With the exception of a few hours at noon, he is invariably to be seen in the water. Upon dry land his gait is waddling, and his flight, although rapid, laboured and heavy; but upon the sea he is quite at home. When swimming quietly upon the surface he rows himself along with powerful but slowly-repeated strokes of his broad feet, passing through the water with tolerable velocity. Should he, however, cast an envious eye upon some other bird that has caught and is about to swallow a fish he would fain appropriate, he rushes in pursuit with truly wonderful rapidity. In diving he is equally adroit, plunging suddenly down without the least sound or commotion, and in clear water, where his career, as he steers his course half way between the surface and the bottom can be observed, his rapid progress seems rather to resemble the movements of a trout than those of a bird. On occasions he can remain under water for two minutes at a time; generally, however, he comes up in about a minute, and in this short period, notwithstanding all the ins and outs of his zigzag course, will have dived, as shown by the place of his reappearance, upwards of 100 yards. As long as these birds can obtain a sufficient supply, they subsist exclusively upon fishes, preferring such as are about five or six inches long, although they are well able to vanquish and swallow those of much larger size. The breeding-place of these Goosanders is generally in latitudes very far north, their usual resort being to the Danish islands, and even still farther north.