THE AMERICAN MERGANSER. 



./</»// female ami immature: .M««rc conspicuous!) crested on hind-head and nape; 

 the head and upper neck dark cinnamon-brown, white on chin and sides of throat; 

 .. blue gray, with white speculum and black of wings much as in male; 

 arts white, shaded on sides with color of back, and faintly tinged with 

 salmon; bill red with dusk) ridge; feel chrome-yellow or orange, with dusk) webs; 

 eyes yellow. Length 25.00-27.00 (635.-685.8); wing 10.75 (273.1); tail 4.25 

 io8.) ; bill 2.15 ( 54.6 1 : bill from nostril [.50 (38.1 I ; tarsus 1.90 (48.3)- Female 

 ng three or four inches shorter and proportioned accordingly. 

 Recognition Marks. — .Mallard to ['.rant size; long, narrow hill with promi- 

 nent serrations on side; under-parts white or pale salmon tinted; no rusty or och- 

 raceous on breast. Lovers of swift waters; river divers. 



Nest, occasionally on the ground, more commonly in hole of tree or stub. 

 th moss, grasses, and feathers. Eggs, 6-10, yellowish or creamy buff. 

 Av. size, 2.65 x 1. So (67.3 x 45.71. 



General Range. — North America generally, breeding south in the United 

 Nates to Pennsylvania and the mountains of Colorado and California. 



Range in Ohio. — Xot uncommon migrant. Winter resident in the southern 

 and perhaps sparingly summer resident in the northern part of the state. 



Tlll ; . first glimpse of this splendid bird ever vouchsafed the writer was 

 upon the rock-bound shore of a certain emerald lake in the West. The bird 

 had been surprised at the water's edge, and winged as he attempted to rise. 

 With instant decision he took to the water and dove sharply. When some 

 twenty feet deep, he turned and paralleled the shore, intending to make a 

 landing at some distance and secrete himself among the rocks. It was a 

 rare sight from my vantage point some forty feet above, to watch the duck 

 cleaving the water with strong concerted strokes of his vermilion feet. In 

 that limpid water the resplendent black of his head and the salmon-tinted sides 

 shone almosl as if there was nothing between us. I am almost sorry to add 

 that his ruse was not successful, and that his skin now- rests in the Oberlin 

 College museum. 



Xot only are these Mergansers expert divers, hut the sharp "teeth," 

 inclining backward as the) do. are calculated to hold the most slipper) prey. 

 Fish caught in fair pursuit form the bulk of their food, hut frogs, water 

 insects, cray-fish, and other crustaceans, vary the monotony. Since the taking 

 of such pre) depends primarily upon unimpeded eye-sight, it goes with, nit 

 saying that these birds prefer clear waters and free course. Hence, they are 

 more often found upon our rivers, even the swiftest running streams, than 

 upon the reservoirs and reed grown ponds. It is to he feared that when 

 the Fish Duck encounters a lusty school of minnows he dries not agree thai 

 is a feast." An Arctic authority. Hearne. states that 

 it devours fish in such great quantities as to he Frequently obliged to disgorge 

 several before it can rise from the water. It is noteworthy in this connection 

 that the skin of the throat is unusually elastic, so that the bird can accommodate 

 itch. Dr. Wheaton mentions having captured one which had swal- 



