The Hooded Merganser (Lopiiodyic.s citcuiiatus) 



By C. Hart-Merriam 



Length: 17 ti> 19 inches. 



Range; lireeds from central British Colunihia, Great Slave Lake, central 

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

 New Mexico, southern Louisiana, and central Florida ; winters from southern 

 British Colunihia, LUah, Colorado, Nehraska, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and 

 Massachusetts south to Lower California, Mexico, and the Gulf States. 



This, the smallest and most beautiful of the mergansers, ranges from Alaska 

 to Mexico, anil formerly was alnindant in the ■•".ast. where it nested in many states, 

 including New luigland. Of late years it has diminished greatly in numbers, as 

 would be ex])ected of a bird of its habits. Unlike its near relatives, it prefers still- 

 water ponds and ri\ers, and is often found in company with the wood duck. Its 

 flesh is said to lia\e little of the unpalatable tisliy flavor of its congeners, and this 

 would seem to imply a more varied diet, including probably seeds and grasses. 

 Nevertheless, nature did not endow the merganser with the serrated Ijill of its 

 kind without a iiurjiose, and its skill in diving and seizing its finny quarry proves 

 that fish, or at least aquatic creatures of some sort, are natural food. The hooded 

 merganser nests in hollow trees, sometimes thirty or more feet up. and the wonder 

 is how the tiny ducklings find their way to the nearest water, as they certainly 

 do in a very few hours after emerging from the egg. Sometimes the mother may 

 act as a common carrier for her brood, and again, when the height is not too 

 great, the ducklings may drop to the ground or water as the case may be. 



This smaller species is rather the most common of the grou]) with us, lieing 

 not infrequcntb' found during migrations in pairs or small groups upon the rivers 

 and ponds. It is a master diver, and if it has room enough, is more apt to seek 

 to escape from sudden danger l)y diving and hiding, than by flight. Although its 

 flesh is not iiighly ])rized, it suffers periodical ])ersecution along with everything 

 r(nu)tely resembling a duck'. It has. however, the occasional advantage of being 

 able to dodge at the flash of a gun. Besides, if shot, it has about nine chances of 

 escaping the pot, through its marvelous powers of hiding, utilizing for tliis pur- 

 pose the exposed roots of ri\er banks, or even, in extremity, clinging to some object 

 in the bottom of the stream. 



There are no recent accounts of the nesting of this bird within the limits of 

 the state, but its jiresent occurrence during the breeding season is well within the 

 bounds of possibility. Like the Wood Duck, it selects for a nesting site a hollow 

 tree or stub in some secluded siiot. Dr. Brewer tells of an instance, in the 

 neighborhood of the St. Croix River, in Maine, where the claims of the two birds 

 came into conflict. "Several years ago Mr. Boardman's attention was called to 

 a singular contest between a female Wood Duck and a female of the Hooded 

 Merganser for the possession of a hollow tree. The two birds had been 

 observed for several days contesting for the nest, neither permitting the other 



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