190 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Hab. Northern portions of northern hemisphere; in America migrating south, in 

 winter, throughout the United States. ' 



Sp. Char. Adult male: Head dull greenish black, duller and more brownish on the 

 forehead and throat, the crest faintly glossed with purplish; neck and sides of the chest 

 pale fawn-color or dull buff, indistinctly streaked with black, the streaks being on the 

 edges of ihe feathers; a white collar round the upper part of the neck, just below the black 

 Lower part? pure creamy white, the sides and flanks undulated with narrow zigzag bars 

 of black. Back and scapulars uniform black; shoulders overhung by a tuft of broad feath- 

 ers, broadly margined with black, the central space being white. Anterior and outermost 

 lesser wing-coverts dark slate-gray, darker centrally; posterior lesser coverts and mid- 

 dle coverts wholly white; greater coverts with the terminal half white, th > basal half black, 

 partly exposed, thus forming a narrow band or bar across the wing; two innermost tertials 

 wholly black, the rest white, edged with black ; innermost secondaries entirely white ; outer 

 secondaries, primary-coverts, and primaries black. Rump and upper tail-coverts dark 

 ash-gray with black shafts, centrally, finely mottled laterally with white-and-black zigzags. 

 Tail slate-gray, with black shafts. Bill deep carmine, the culmen black, the nail yellowish; 

 iris carmine; feet bright red.* Adult female: Headani neck cinnamon-brown, duller or 

 more grayish on the pileum and nape, the crest shorter than in the male ; throat and lower 

 parts white, the sides and flanks ash-gray. Upper parts dark ash-gray, the feathers with 

 darke shafts; exposed portion of greater coverts and secondaries white, the base of the 

 latter black, but seldom showing as a narrow bar; primaries bla k. Bill, eyes, and feet as 

 in the mal>\ but less intense in color. Young: Similar to the adult female, but chin and 

 throat pale reddish, instead of pure white, tne lo > er part of the neck and chest, brown- 

 ish white, with the feathers mouse-gray beneath th ^ surface; black at base of the second- 

 arie exposed, forming a narrow bar between two white areas. Downy young: Above, 

 hair-brown, the posterior border of each wing, and a large spot on each side of the rump, 

 yellowish white; lower parts including th ■ malar region, yellowish white; side of head 

 and neck reddish cinn imon, paler on the lores, which are bordered above by a dusky 

 stripe running backwai d to the anterior angle of the eye, and below by a dark brown, rather 

 indistinct, riotal stripe; lower eyelid white. 



Total length, about 20.00 to 25.00 inches: extent, 32.00 to 35.00; wing, 8.60-9.00; culmen, 2.50; 

 tarsus, 1.80-1.U0; middle toe, 2.40. 



The Red-breasted Merganser (sadly mis-named, since the 

 breast does not even approach red in color), is a winter resi- 

 dent throughout Illinois and breeds from the northern portion 

 of the State northward. Its habits are so like those of the 

 buff-breasted species {M. americanus) as to require no special 

 description here. 



Genus LOPHODYTES Reichenbach. 



Lophodytes Reichenb. Syst. Av. 1852, p. ix. Type, Mergus cucullatus Linn. 



Gen. Char. Bill shorter than the head, black; serrations compressed, low, short, 

 inserted obliquely on the edge of the bill. Tail more than half as long as the wings. 

 Tarsus about two thirds as long as the longest toe (with claw). Head with a full, semi- 

 circular, compressed crest of hair-like feathers. 



* Two adult males received at the National Museum from Wood's Holl. Mass., April 14, 

 1886, had the soft parts colored as follows: Lower mandible and feet rich scarlet-lake, the 

 webs of the latter brownish, becoming neaily black on the median portion; ujper mandible 

 blackish brown, becoming dull red along edges. Total length, before skinning, 23.50 and 

 24 inches respectively. 



