LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 9 



may be seen fishing together, driving the panic-stricken fish into the 

 shallows or into some small pool where they may be more easily 

 caught. Mr. Hardy writes: 



They fish in companies; aa fast as they come up the hind ones run ahead of those 

 in front of them and dive again, being in turn succeeded by others. I have seen 

 them fishing on quick water in very cold weather until January 7. They feed ex- 

 clusively on fish, several often uniting to capture one of large size. Last year we 

 took a pickerel from a party of them which measured 14 inches in length; also took 

 from one's throat a chub which, with head decomposed, measured 10 inches. 



One of these gluttonous birds will often attempt to swallow a 

 larger fish than it can dispose of, leaving the tail of the fish protrud- 

 mg from its mouth while the head is digesting. Mr. Shaw found in 

 the "stomach" of one bird "13 perch, a few of \vhich were nearly 3 

 inches in length." 



Audubon (1840) says: 



I have found fishes in its stomach 7 inches in length, and of smaller kinds eo 

 many as to weigh more than half a pound. Digestion takes place with great rapid- 

 ity, insomuch that some which I have fed in captivity devoured more than two 

 dozen of fishes about 4 inches in length, four times daily, and yet always seemed 

 to be desirous of more. 



Mr. Harry S. Swarth (1911) describes the following manner of 

 feeding, which is unusual for this species: 



I was concealed iu the shrubbery at the water's edge examining a large flock of 

 ducks for possible rarities, when a dozen or more mergansers (both M. americanus 

 and M. senator) began swimming back and forth but a very short distance from my 

 blind. They swam slowly, with neck outstretched, and with the bill held just at 

 the surface of the water, and at a slight angle, so that the head was submerged about 

 to the level of the eyes. The water was evidently filtered througli the bOl, as a 

 slight " gabbling " noise was quite audible, and obviously something was being retained 

 as food, though just what it was I could not tell. This is rather remarkable, as it is 

 exactly the manner of feeding usually employed by the shoveller (Sjmtula clypeata), 

 a species which, as regards bill structure, is further removed from the mergansers than 

 any other member of the Anatidae. 



Mr. Ora W. Knight (1908) says: 



Along the coast in winter they eat many mussels and allied species of mollusks, 

 swallowing them shell and all. The shells are soon ground to pieces in their intestines 

 and stomachs, and in dead birds dissected out I have traced the entire process from 

 entire mussel shells down to impalpable mud at the lower end of the intestinal tract. 



In the early spring, when live fish are difficult to obtain, they seem 

 to enjoy frozen, rotten fish with the same gusto as fresh, picking them 

 out of the floating ice. They also feed to some extent on frogs, small 

 eels, aquatic salamanders, crawfish, and other small crustaceans, vari- 

 ous bivalve mollusks and snails, leeches, worms, water insects and 

 larvae, and the stems and roots of aquatic plants. 



Behavior. — The American merganser is a heavy-bodied bird and 

 sometimes experiences considerable difficulty in rising from the water; 

 if the circumstances are not favorable, it has to patter along the sur- 



