The Red-breasted Merganser 175 



THE RED BREASTED MERGANSER 

 (MERGUS SERRATOR). 



THE Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus Serrator). It 

 makes its nest, like the Eider, with its own down 

 a few yards from the water of the more retired 

 Highland lochs. When the female commences sitting she 

 is left by the drake, which retires and completes its moult, 

 after having assumed a somewhat duck-like appearance. 

 The female is the Dun diver, but the handsome male 

 has the head and neck greenish black, mingled with a few 

 reddish-brown feathers ; the occiput adorned with a long 

 loose crest ; the lower neck and upper breast reddish- 

 brown ; the back, sides of the breast, scapulars, and 

 quills, black ; the lower part of the back, rump, tail, and 

 flanks, grey, the latter with narrow irregular bars of 

 black ; the breast, belly, and vent, salmon colour ; the 

 greater wing-covers and secondaries, white, each with a 

 black base, which forms a double bar across the wing ; 

 the tertials white, with a narrow edging of black ; but a 

 most conspicuous marking is seen in a few rather large 

 feathers which spring from either side of the breast above 

 the bend of the wing, and over which, while the bird is at 

 rest, they fold — these are pure white, with a margin all 

 round of deep black. The colours are more distinctly 

 marked in the breeding season. 



