510 PALMIPEDES. 



Mergansers are eminently aquatic, and swim well, but 

 from the weight and flattened form of their bodies 

 appear deeply immersed in the water, the head, 

 neck, and back only being visible. They are also 

 excellent divers, moving, or rather flying beneath the 

 surface with great rapidity, and to a considerable 

 distance : it is during these submarine excursions 

 that they capture their finny prey. Their flight is 

 strong and swift, and they have great endurance of 

 wing ; but from the shortness and backward position 

 of their legs, are awkward upon land. They are 

 natives of the coldest climates, and may be found 

 during the summer or breeding season in very high 

 latitudes. They build their nests on the margins of 

 water, either concealed under a large stone, or 

 placed under the cover of bushes. The nest is com- 

 posed of grass and other vegetable materials, mixed, 

 and lined with any kind of soft substances, and in it 

 the female deposits from eight to twelve eggs. 



The type of this sub-family, — 



The Dun Diver, or Goosander (Jfergiis Merganser), is 

 widely distributed throughout the Arctic regions, both of 

 the Old and the New World. In Europe, during its 

 southern migration, it visits France, Holland, aud Ger- 

 many, and is also a well-known winter visitant u):)on the 

 coasts, lakes, and rivers of the United States. Durmg 

 the summer the great body of these birds retire very far 

 north for the purpose of reproduction, and at that time 

 they are found in. Iceland and Greenland. In Asia, they 

 visit Siberia and Kamtschatka ; and in America, during 

 the breeding season, they are spread through the northern 

 districts of that vast continent. Their nest is there con- 

 structed, near the edge of the water, of a mass of grass, 

 roots, and other materials, and lined with down. It is 

 placed sometimes among stones, and sometimes in the 

 long grass, or under the cover of bushes, and, when the 

 locality affords them, in the stumps or hollows of decayed 

 trees. The eggs are from twelve to fourteen in number, 

 of a cream-yellow colour ; their form is a long oval, botli 

 ends being equally obtuse. The Goosander, except when 



