ANA TIDJE — MEBGINJE : MERGANSERS. 



717 



mediate secondaries white, inner secondaries and scapulars black and white. 9 • Bill red with 

 dusky ciilinen, iris yellowish, feet chrome or orange with dusky webs, crest better developed than 

 in (J ; still flimsy, however long. Head and neck reddish-brown ; throat white ; under parts 

 loss salmon-tinted. Black parts of ^ ashy-gray ; scapulars without white ; white of wing 

 restricted to secondaries and greater coverts, which are black at base ; smaller coverts ashy. 

 Length 23.50-27.00; extent 34.00 or more; wing 10.00-11.00; tail 5.00; bill 2.00 along 

 culmen, 3.00 along gape ; tarsus ^75 ; middle toe and claw 2.75 ; 9 much smaller than ^, at 

 the lesser or below the single dimensions here given. N. Am. bird said to difl'er in slighter and 

 lower crest, and evident black bar in white of \viug, concealed in European. N. Am. at large, 

 common ; U. S. in winter, and breeding fi-om N. States northward. Nest on ground, down- 

 lined ; eggs 6-8, elliptical, buff-colored, 2.75 X 2.00. 



Fig. 499. — Merganser, cf , J nat. size. (From Brehm. ) 



744. M. serra'tor. (Lat. serrator, a sawyer. Fig. 500.) Red-breasted Merganser. Nostrils 

 near base of bill. Frontal feathers extending obtusely on culmen, and not beyond those on 

 sides of upper mandible ; the loral sweeping forward convex beyond those on side of lower 

 mandible. A long, thin, pointed occipital and nuchal crest in both sexes. Adult ^ : 

 Head and neck all around splendid dark green. A white ring round neck. Under parts 

 white, more or less salmon-tinged, the fore-breast brownish-red streaked with dusky, the 

 sides finely waved with dusky. A white black-bordered patch of broad feathers in front of 

 the wing. Fore-back, interscapulars, and long inner scapulars, black ; middle and lower back 

 gray, waved with whitish and dusky. Surface of wing mostly white, including outer scap- 

 ulars ; inner secondaries edged on outer web with black, and wing crossed by two black bars 

 at bases and just beyond ends of greater coverts. Bill carniino-red, dusky along the top; 

 eyes carmine ; feet bright red. 9 '■ Bill and feet duller colored ; head grayish-chestnut ; 



