which he considered an impressive number, were seen inland on Roanoke Rapids 

 Lake, 22 January 1978. 



Common Mergansers have bred at least once in the state but are rarely seen 



during the summer. A pair nested at Bennett's Pond, Chowan County, in 1938 and 



another bird was collected at Cape Hatteras on 26 June 1939 (Pearson et al. 

 1942) . 



South Carolina Sprunt and Chamberlain (1949) considered the Common Mergan- 

 ser "decidedly uncommon" as a winter resident, recorded between 24 November and 

 April 16. Burton (1970) believed that it might be more abundant than previously 

 thought because females might be confused with the similar but more common Red- 

 breasted Merganser; he remarked that these mergansers were primarily regarded 

 as coastal visitors. Reports of larger numbers have come primarily from inland, 

 however. A flock of 250 or more was seen on 24 September 1961 at Hartwell Lake 

 (Chamberlain 1961). Inlands counts of 22 at Lake Greenwood, 3 February 1977 

 (LeGrand 1977a), and 16 there 10 February 1978 (LeGrand 1978) were considered 

 "impressive" and "remarkable" by LeGrand. 



Georgia In Georgia, this species is an uncommon winter visitor, seen only 

 at infrequent intervals (Burleigh 1958). Denton et al. (1977) considered it 

 rare in the interior and uncommon on the coast, with records from mid-November 

 to mid-April . 



Florida This species occurs uncommonly in Florida as a winter visitor 

 (Sprunt 1954). It is found coastally in saltwater bays, lagoons, rivers, and 

 offshore. There were several records for the winter of 1977-78 (Kale 1978, 

 Stevenson 1978). Kale (1979 ras a, 1979 ms b) considered the Common Merganser 

 rare on both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. 



Alabama Imhof (1976b) considered this merganser fairly common to uncommon 

 in winter in the Tennessee Valley but rare and irregular elsewhere in the state. 

 Most are present between late October and late April; dates of occurrence along 

 the coast are from 20 November to 24 April. The largest number reported for the 

 Gulf coast is 10 at Dauphin Island, 27 December 1958 (Imhof 1976b). 



Mississippi There are only a few reports of the Common Merganser in Mis- 

 sissippi, all between late December and early February 1977-78, and all from 

 inland lakes (Jackson and Weber 1977, Jackson and Cooley 1978a). The largest 

 number reported is eight at Moon Lake, 4 February 1978. 



Louisiana Lowery (1974) regarded the Common Merganser as an uncommon win- 

 ter visitor in Louisiana, recorded in all months from October through April; 

 there is one record for June. Most of the 37 records are from non-coastal lo- 

 calities but the species has been seen in all coastal parishes. The largest 

 numbers reported have been 21 on University Lake, Baton Rouge, 4 December 1955 

 (Lowery 1974); and "more than 20" at Calcasieu Lake, 5 December 1970 (Hamilton 

 1971). 



Texas The Common Merganser is a winter visitor in Texas. Oberholser 

 (1974) noted that these ducks are irregularly very common in the northern and 

 middle Panhandle, locally common to scarce in the southern Panhandle and Trans- 



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