AVES- GOOSANDER.. .MERGANSER. 



671 



been produced ; the shoveller, 1 which has a bill three inches long and re- 

 markably broad at the end ; the pintail, 2 with the two middle feathers of the 

 tail three inches longer than the rest ; the long-tailed 3 duck, the general 

 color of whose plumage is deep chocolate, and the outer feathers of the tail, 

 which are white, four inches longer than the rest. 



THE GOOSANDER* 



Weighs about four pounds. The bill is red; the head very full of feathers 

 on the top and back part. The plumage is various and beautiful. The 

 head and upper parts are fine glossy black, the rump and tail ash color, and 

 the under parts of the neck and body a fine pale yelloAV. Its manners and 

 appetites entirely resemble those of the diver. It feeds upon fish, for which 

 it dives ; it is said to build its nest upon trees, like the heron and the cor- 

 vorant. 



THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER* 



Is smaller, weighing only two pounds. The head and neck are black, gloss- 

 ed with green ; the rest of the neck and the belly white ; the upper part of the 

 back is glossy black : the lower parts and the rump are striated with brown 

 and pale gray; on the wings there are white bars tipped with black, and 



1 Anas chjpcata, Lin. 2 Anas Labradora, Gmel. 3 Anas glacialis. 



* Mergus merganser, Lin. The genus Mergus has the hill middle-sized or Ions', slen- 

 der, in the form of an elongated cone, and almost cylindrical ; basa broad ; tip of the up- 

 per mandible much hooked, and furnished with a nail ; edges of both mandibles serrated 

 in a hackward direction; nostrils lateral towards the middle of the bill; legs short, placed 

 backwards on the abdomen, the three fore toes completely webbed, the hind toe articulated 

 on the tarsus. 



5 Mergus serrator, Lit*. 



