Merganser of this species, not bigger than the egg of a Goose, and yet already a most elegant epitome of its female 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 diminutive 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 a nest or brood of these birds had annually been seen near this solitary and secluded island.” The male Goosanders leave the females immediately after incubation has commenced, and are then seen in the wildest parts of the country. Several females are often found breeding on the same island, and it is after their young are pretty well grown, that they moult. For a number of years past, I have sometimes entertained a hope, at the approach of the breeding season, of finding a male Goosander having his head adorned with a broad erectile crest, like that of the female and young, but I have hitherto been disappointed, and am therefore unable to say whether such a crest ever exists in that sex. The young of both sexes retain the colouring of the female for two years, during which time the males can be distinguished from the females only by their being much larger. The males have not the rich buffy tint on the breast until about two years after they have commenced breeding, and the first perceptible change by which their sex is distinguished is the appearance of black feathers on the head and neck. Until of late years, the females were thought to be of a distinct species, to which the name of Dun Diver was given. Many writers have said that this bird breeds in the hollows of trees, or on their branches; but of the various nests which I have found, not one occurred in such situations; and the Hooded Merganser is the only species of this genus which I have observed nestling in an elevated place. The notes of the Goosander are harsh, consisting of hoarse croaks, seldom uttered unless the bird be suddenly startled, or when courting. The females are usually silent, but when with their young brood, and pursued, they emit the same guttural sounds as the males. Goosanders are easily caught with hooks baited with fish; my friend JOHN BACHMAN has procured them in this manner on the Hudson River, and I also have on the Ohio. Along with the representation of a pair of adult birds of this species, I have given a correct view of the Cohoes Falls in the State of New York. MERGUS MERGANSER, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. 208.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 828.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 397.