n or
Dorset, a few scattered Scoters--non-breeding birds, of course--remain
throughout the summer. I have one, a male, killed off Guernsey on July
19th: this bird is in that peculiar state of plumage which all the males
of the _Anatidae_ put on from about July to October, and in which many
of them look so like the females.

The Common Scoter is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked
only as occurring in Guernsey. The Velvet Scoter is also included in
Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey; but there
seems to be no other evidence of its having occurred in the Islands;
and a mistake may easily have been made, however, as the Velvet Scoter
occurs tolerably frequently on the south coast of Devon, though never in
such numbers as the Common Scoter; it may, of course, occur in the
Channel Islands occasionally. There is no specimen of either bird in the
Museum.

145. GOOSANDER. _Mergus merganser_, Linnaeus. French, "Grand
Harle."--The Goosander is a regular and tolerably numerous visitant to
all the Islands, arriving in the autumn and remaining throughout the
winter. The heavy-breaking seas of the Channel Islands do not appear to
disturb the composure of these birds in the least, for once, on my
voyage home on the 16th November, 1871, I saw a small flock of
Goosanders off Herm, close to the steamer; they were swimming perfectly
unconcerned in a heavy-breaking sea, which made the steamer very lively,
dipping first one and then the other paddle-box into the water; as we
got close up to them they rose, but only flew a short distance and
pitched again in the white water. They seem to me to keep the sea better
than the Red-breasted Merganser--at least, I have not seen them seek
shelter so much in the different bays.

The Goosander is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as
occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum at present,
though I think there used to be one, but I suppose it has got
moth-eaten and been thrown away.

146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. _Mergus serrator,_ Linnaeus. French, "Harle
Huppe."--Like the Goosander, the Red-breasted Merganser is a regular and
by no means uncommon autumn and winter visitant to the Channel Islands.
It seems to me, as I said before, that these birds seek the more
sheltered bays during wild squally weather more than the Goosanders do;
not but what they can keep the sea well even in bad weather, but I have
never seen or shot the