DUlKS. (;,'3 



regularly in England, but is now only a straggler tu our sliores. Like 

 its allies, it almost always breeds in colonies, the nest being a mass of 

 twigs, flags, or sticks, sometimes placed in reed-beds or on low bushes, 

 but more usually in a tree. Four or five rough white eggs with red- 

 brown spots are the full complement for a sitting. 



Order XVI. AXSEKIFOKMES. J)rcK-Tiui!i;. 

 Family Anatid.k. Mergansers, Ducks, Geese & Swans. 



Tlie cosmopolitan family Anat'uhe, which aloue comprises this Order, L'ases 

 includes the Mergansers, Ducks, (icese and Swans. They are all easily y;. Qeiitre 

 recognised by their external characters, such as the flattened or partially I'.iw.] 

 flattened bill, short legs and fully webbed toes, wliich distinguish them 

 from the Screamers and Flamingoes. The majority of the species find 

 their food under the water, which is drained away between the lamella; 

 with which the edges of the soft-skinned bill are j)rovi(led, and which 

 act like a sieve in retaining the substances or animalcules fit for food. 

 In the (iecse these lamelhe are harder and adapted for cutting grass, 

 while in the jNIergansers they arc recurved to prevent the cajjtured fish 

 from escaping. 



A curious feature about many of the Ducks, apparently peculiar to 

 all those species in which the male is more brightly coloured than the 

 female, is that after the young are hatched the male moults his bright 

 plumage and assumes a dull-coloured dress similar to that of the female. 

 This change is no doubt protective, for during the moult the male, 

 having cast all his flight-feathers, is practically helpless. The "eclipse" 

 plumage lasts for several weeks till the quills have been renewed, and is 

 then replaced by new feathers of the normal bright livery. 



On the lower shelves of this Case tlie visitor will find various species [Case ST.] 

 of " Saw-hills," as the genus Mert/uiiser and its allies are comnujuly 

 called. The Red-breasted jNIerganser {M. serrator) (684), the Goosander 

 (M. castor) (685), and the beautiful Smew (Men/us u/M/us) (686) 

 are all three British species, the: two former breeding in the north of 

 Scotland. The Merganser is much the commonest and particularly hated 

 by fishermen on account of the enormous numbers of fish it catclics, 

 iueludiug small trout and salmou-fry. A remarkably handsome species 

 is the North- American Hooded Merganser [Lophodytes cucullatus) (687), 

 which has occasionally been obtained in Great Britain and Ireland 

 during severe winter weather. The Red-breasted Merganser hides its 

 nest among thick heather or coarse grass, but the other species men- 

 tioned almost always select a hollow tree. 



The genus Merganetta. represented by the Chilian ^lerganscr or 



