LIFE HIvSTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 3 



vary greatly in different localities or even with different individuals 

 in the same locality. Major Bendire carried on an extensive corre- 

 spondence with Mr. Manly Hardy on this subject and the latter 

 was finally convinced that the goosander, as he called it, does occa- 

 sionally nest on the ground. On June 12, 1891, Mr. Hardy wrote 

 that, in passing through Caribou Lake, June 8, he found three nests, 

 containing 26 eggs, on ledges under low fir bushes, v/hich settled the 

 controversy. I believe, however, that in the Eastern States and 

 Provinces this merganser prefers to nest in hollow trees where it can 

 find suitable cavities, which are usually scarce. Mr. Fred A. Shaw, 

 who has had 30 years' experience with this species in the vicinity of 

 Sebago Lake, Maine, contributes the following notes on its nesting 

 habits: 



A few breed around Sebago, especially near the mouth of Songo River, the 

 principal tributarj', where there is a large area of bog, flooded in spring, through 

 which are scattered large hollow trees providing safe nesting places for them. The 

 nest of this species is commonly placed in a hollow tree standing near the water and 

 is composed of feathers and down from the breast of the parent bird. A nest of this 

 bird near Whites Bridge at the outlet of Sebago Lake was shown me in May, 1897. 

 It was in a white birch stub which was broken off about 15 feet from the ground and 

 was hollow for about 10 feet from the top and contained 10 eggs, which were laid at 

 the bottom of the hole on a warm bed of soft down from the breast of the mother bird. 



Mr. Hardy wrote that it nested in hollow trees, usually hardwood 

 trees, such as maples and ashes, and often in green trees. Mr. John 

 H. Sage (1881) found a nest on an island in Moosehead Lake, Maine, 

 on June 19, 1881— 



in a hollow under the roots of a standing tree, roots, earth, and moss forming a 

 perfect roof, so that the nest, after the heavy shower of that day, seemed well pro- 

 tected and was quite dry- The eggs were covered with leaves, moss, and feathers — • 

 mostly feathers. The old bird was seen to leave the nest. 



On Lake Winnipegosis and Waterhen Lake, Manito])a, v.e found 

 the American merganser very common and nesting on the numerous 

 islands, wherever suitable nesting sites could be found among the 

 piles of loose bowlders along the shores. Mr. Walter Raine found as 

 many as 30 nests of this species on Gun Island, a large island in 

 Lake Winnipegosis. On one island that we visited the Indians had 

 collected about 60 eggs of the "saw bills," as they call them, a 

 short time previously. The nests were very well hidden in remote 

 crevices under the piles of large bowlders; many of them were quite 

 inaccessible, where the bowlders were too largo for us to move them. 

 We often saw mergansers flying away from islands M'hcre we felt 

 sure that they were nesting, but where we were unable to find or 

 reach the nests. A few nests were found in the dense tangles of 

 gooseberry bushes and nettles on the tops of the islands where hunt- 

 ing for them was difficult and painful unless a telltale })ath, strewn 

 with feathers and droppings, told us just where to look. 



