The Goosander is a regular winter visitor to the shores of Great Britain and Ireland, frequenting bays and estuaries, but preferring fresh-water rivers and lakes, where it makes great havoc among trout and other fish. It is far more abundant in the north than in the south, and, according to Macgillivray, is sometimes seen even in summer in the Scotch lochs. It has been known to breed in the outer Hebrides, and of late years in several parts of the Highlands, but the general summer residence of this species is much farther to the north, both in the eastern and western hemispheres. The habits of the Goosander and Merganser are so much alike that further detail is unnecessary.
The females and young birds of the Goosander and Merganser are popularly called Dun-divers.
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER
MERGUS SERRATOR
Head, crest, and neck black, with greenish reflections; a white collar round the neck; breast reddish brown, spotted with black; near the insertion of the wing several white spots, edged with black; speculum white, divided by two transverse black bars; back black; belly white, barred on the flanks and rump with wavy grey lines; bill and irides red; feet orange. Length twenty-two inches. Female smaller; head and crest reddish brown; breast mottled with ash and white; upper plumage and flanks deep ash-colour; speculum with one black bar; bill and feet dull orange; irides brown. Eggs whitish ash.
This large and handsome bird is not uncommon in the estuaries and rivers of Great Britain, but is most frequent in the north. It is resident in Scotland and Ireland. The adult male is less frequently seen than females and young males, which closely resemble one another in size and plumage, both being inferior to the first in brilliancy of colouring. Their food consists of fish, especially sand-eels, and, when they find their way into fresh-water lakes and rivers, of eels and trout, which they capture by diving, and retain with ease by the help of their strong bills notched throughout like a saw.
In birds of the first year the tuft of feathers on the head is barely perceptible, and there is but a slight tinge of red on the lower part of the neck. Most of the Mergansers which resort to our shores during winter visit us from high latitudes; but a few remain to breed in the Scotch and Irish lakes, making their nests of dry herbage and moss mixed with down from their own breasts.
The name Merganser, that is, 'Diving Goose', has reference to the size of the bird and its habit of diving for its food. Its flight is strong and rapid, but differs somewhat from that of the Ducks, the neck being not stretched out to its full length, but slightly folded back. After the young are hatched the male deserts the female and leaves her to bring off her brood without assistance.
THE SMEW
MERGUS ALBELLUS
Crest, neck, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and all the under parts white; cheeks and back of the head greenish black; two crescent-shaped marks advancing from the shoulders on each side to the breast black; tail ash coloured; bill and feet bluish grey, the membranes black; irides brown. Length seventeen inches. Female smaller; head and cheeks reddish brown; under parts white, clouded on the breast, flanks, and rump, with ash-grey; upper plumage and tail greyish black; wings variegated with black, white, and grey. Eggs whitish.