As this beautiful Duck, the _Mergus merganser_ of ornithologists, not only occurs in some numbers in British waters as a winter visitor, but breeds sparingly within our limits, it has some claim to be included in the present volume, although it cannot be regarded as a very striking feature in coast bird life. It is also far less exclusively marine than the preceding species. The Goosander is an even more handsome bird than the Red-breasted Merganser, and is the largest species in the present sub-family. The colours of the male are arranged in a most effective and strongly-contrasted way. The head and neck are dark metallic-green, the breast is a delicate and beautiful pink, the upper parts and the wings are black and white, the under parts below the breast white. The female has the head reddish-brown, the upper parts grayish-brown or pale chestnut, the lower buffish-white. In its habits and in the haunts it frequents, the Goosander very closely resembles its smaller ally. When, in winter, frequenting the coast it delights in the bays and fjords, but occasionally wanders to less precipitous shores, notably estuaries and the mouths of tidal rivers. It is a remarkably agile bird in the water, swimming and diving with equal ease, but on the land its movements are ungainly, the bird wriggling along with its breast almost touching the ground, in a very Diver-like manner. In diving, it often descends to a great depth. Although not often seen much on shore, it possesses the Cormorant-like habit of basking on some rock jutting from the water, sitting with its body upright and wings half expanded. Its food consists of fish, crabs, molluscs, and aquatic insects. Most of this is obtained whilst the bird is diving. The Goosander, in our islands, is as yet only known to breed in a few localities in the Highlands. Its eggs are laid during April and May. Its favourite nesting haunts are open, swampy forests, containing lakes and rocky streams. The nest is generally made in a hole in a tree, but crevices in rocks, or cavities in exposed tree roots by the water side, are sometimes selected. But little nest is made, although when the full clutch of eggs is deposited a thick and abundant bed of down surrounds them. The eggs are from eight to twelve in number, creamy white and glossy. It is not known whether the drake assists in the duty of incubation. The Goosander has a wide geographical range, which extends over Arctic and North temperate Europe, Asia, and America, and more southern areas during winter. SMEW.