WATER BIRDS. 75 



Distribution. — Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere; south 

 in winter throughout the United States. 



Most of what has been said about the preceding species applies also 

 to this, but tlie Red-breasted Shelldrake in most parts of the state does 

 not seem to be as common at 

 any season as the Goosander. 

 Like the latter it is found on 

 ponds and streams in the interior 

 as well as on the Great Lakes,' 

 and it also feeds mainly on fish 

 and crayfish and dives in the 

 same manner as other members 

 of the genus. 



Like the Goosander it fre- 

 quently winters in southern and 

 middle Michigan and this fact 

 makes it difficult to fix accurate- 

 ly the time of arrival and depar- 

 ture of the migrants. Probably the 



largest numbers move northward rig. lO. Red-breasted Merganser. 



„„„i , ;„ A,,,.;i „^J +1,^ „^v.;»,„ ,^; From Hoffman's Guide to the Birds of New England 



early m April and the sprmg mi- and Eastern New York. (Houghton, Miffiin & Co.) 



gration is completed by the first 



of May. Most of the southward migration takes place in October. 

 Even in the Upper Peninsula, however, some linger until December, and 

 Mr. Thomas B. Wyman, of Negaunee, Marquette county, says that it is 

 frequent there along open streams in winter. 



In its nesting habits it differs somewhat from the Goosander since, so 

 far as known, it invariably nests on the ground, sometimes under a log 

 or stump, but often under the low spreading branches of an evergreen 

 or even a thick clump of bushes or weeds. So far as I can learn it has not 

 been found nesting in the southern parts of the state, but its eggs have 

 been taken from Saginaw Bay northward; at Mackinac Island and Round 

 Island (S. E. White); near Cross Village, Emmet county and on Beaver 

 Islands (Chas. L. Cass), and near Van's Harbor, Delta county (Van Winkle). 

 At Grand Island, ]\Iunising Bay, Lake Superior, Mr. E. A. Doolittle saw 

 a female and seven young but a few days out of the shell, July 6, 1906, 

 and a few days later a combined flock of three broods. 



The nests are made of moss, grass and weed stalks, usually heavily 

 lined with down. The eggs are ten or more, cream-colored, and average 

 2.57 by L59 inches. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Nostrils near base of bill. Adult male: The whole head and throat dull greenish black, 

 the color strongest on top of the head, duller on the throat; a white collar below the blapk, 

 below which there is a broad cinnamon-brown band interrupted by black streaks extending 

 over the upper breast and lower neck. Rest of under parts white, the sides and flanks 

 barred with narrow wa^-y lines of black; the tips of most of the secondaries and the greater 

 coverts white. Rest of upper parts black, more or less barred with white on the rump. 

 Adult female: No black on the head, which is mostly reddish-brown, darker on top and 

 with the chin and upper throat much paler or even pure white; the under parts from lower 

 neck to tail white, the sides washed or barred with ashy-gray; the upper parts darker ashy- 

 gray; the wings darker and the primaries nearly black; speculum white. The young when 

 fully grown resemble the female but are duller. 



Length of adult 20 to 25 inches; wing, 8^ to 9 inches; culmen about 2.50; bill from nostril 

 to tip, about 1.75. In any plumage this species can be separated from the Goosander 

 by the position of the nostril, which in the present species is nuich nearer the base of the 

 bill than in the Goosander. 



