crcd with dinks, mostly drakes, and aniun;,' llicin were a goodly number of 

 Gadwalls, all dozinp in the sunshine and expressing no fear whatever at my 

 intrusion. 



The nest and nine e^j^s slunvn in the illustration were taken on the fifteenth 

 of June, 1900, near Graham's Island, Devils Lake, North Dakota. The eggs rested 

 in a slight hollow in the earth, which was snugly lined with down and sheltered 

 hy the weeds and grass which covered the island upon which the ne.st was located. 



American Merganser {Mergus amerkanus) 



Range: Breeds from southern Alaska, southern Yukon, Great Slave I^ke. 

 central Keewatin, southern Ungava, and Newfoundland south to central Oregon, 

 southern South Dakota, southern Minnesota, central Michigan, northern New 

 York and northern New England ; winters from Aleutian Islands, British Colum- 

 bia, Idaho, northern Colorado, southern Wisconsin, southern Ontario, northern 

 New England, and New Brunswick south to Lower California, northern Mexico, 

 Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. 



The narrow, serrated bill of the goosander as contrasted with the broad, 

 smooth bills of most ducks would suggest to the merest tyro that its habits 

 must differ wi<icly from those of most of its kin. In fact, the goosander's bill, 

 with its saw-like teeth, is specially adapted to seizing and holding slippery prey 

 of various kinds including small fish which, though not its sole food, constitute 

 the most important part of it. Water insects, frogs, and crawfish, are by no 

 means disdained. The goosander's long, narrow body eminently fits it for swift 

 progress under water where it spends much of its time. Cold weather and ice 

 have no terrors for it. and the bird may winter wherever open water is assured, 

 provided only that food is abundant. Not many goosanders remain within our 

 territory to breed, and these retire to the mountains where they find along the 

 foaming mountain torrents the surroundings they prefer. The merganser fol- 

 lows the general custom among ducks and nests on the ground, but unlike 

 many it nests also in hollows of trees. As it does not associate in large flocks 

 and has learned to care well for its safety, the bird is holding its own ver>' well. 



859 



