Goosander or Common Merganser (Mergus merganser), Volume 4, Plate 331

Painted in 1832/33. The plate adds a view of the Falls at Cohoes in upstate NY, probably from a sketch provided by Audubon himself.

The plate depicts a female in the water on the left and a male on a bank, with vegetation in the background. As Audubon describes the Merganser in his essay, it is a vigorous, robust and voracious bird, a powerful machine for the processing of food. The bird’s strength is reflected in the powerful image of the waterfall in the background. Audubon reports that he has found seven–inch long fish in the bird’s stomach. “Some which I have fed in captivity devoured more than two dozen of fishes about four inches in length, four times daily, and yet always seemed to be desirous of more.” He also notes, with amazement, that the Merganser would continue to fly at him, with undiminished speed, even after they had been shot.

From John James Audubon’s Ornithological Biography

The flight of the Goosander is powerful, and as rapid and sustained as that of the Red–breasted and Hooded Mergansers. When fairly under way and at a good height, they advance in an almost direct course and proceed with surprising velocity, so that, when suddenly apprised of the vicinity of man, they at times find it difficult to check their speed so quickly as may be necessary for their safety. I well remember that on several occasions having watched one of these birds flying directly up a creek and towards me, I have taken aim at it and fired when it was at the proper distance, and yet such had been its velocity that it would advance, after being shot, many yards towards me. When rising from the water, whatever number may be in the flock, they all start together, paddle off with their feet and wings, stretching out their necks, and thus run as it were on the water to the distance of twenty or thirty yards with great velocity, extending in a front, or following each other in a line, according to the extent of the space before them. They then gradually ascend to the height of the trees, and move off to some considerable distance, but often return to the same place. They seem to ascertain the fertility of the waters by sipping a little on their alighting, and then, having found appearances favourable, they open their bills, apparently to take a deep inspiration, and immediately dive. When they have procured a sufficiency of food, they betake themselves to some sand–bar, on which they repose until it is digested.