474 RKD-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



Siberia to the Pacific in summer, and to Japan and China in 

 winter ; but in India, where the Goosander is common during the 

 cold season, the Red-breasted Merganser is either exceedingly rare 

 or has been overlooked, for only a single example, obtained off 

 Karachi, is on record. In America it inhabits the northern dis- 

 tricts from the Pacific to the Atlantic, reaching as far south in 

 summer as about lat. 45° N., while its winter-range extends to the 

 Bermudas. 



The nest is well concealed in heather, brushwood or long grass, 

 and may be at the end of a small tunnel which leads to the middle 

 of a thick growth of briars ; sometimes it is in the burrow of a 

 Sheld-Duck, or among broken lava in Iceland ; and exceptionally it 

 is almost open to the sky. The lining consists of drab-coloured 

 down ; the eggs, usually laid in the latter part of May and seldom 

 more than 10 in number, are drab-coloured with a greenish tinge : 

 measurements 2-5 by 17 in. After the young are hatched the male 

 may often he seen at no great distance from the female and brood, 

 but if approached he soon departs ; the mother, on the contrary, 

 remains with the young, diving and doubling in the water with 

 marvellous rapidity. The Merganser swims very low ; on land, 

 according to the late Mr. A. C. Chapman, it sits nearly upright. It 

 feeds by day, chiefly on small fish, including trout and salmon-fry ; 

 its flesh is extremely unpalatable. 



The adult male has the bill and irides red ; the head, with its long 

 filamentous crest, and the upper neck, dark glossy-green ; below this, 

 a white collar, divided on the nape by a narrow black line running 

 to the back, which is also black ; near the point of the wing a 

 conspicuous tuft of white feathers broadly edged with black ; the long 

 falcated inner scapulars black, and the outer ones chiefly white ; 

 wing-patch white, barred with black ; rump, flanks, and tail-coverts 

 vermiculated with grey ; lower neck pale chestnut-brown, streaked 

 with black : under parts white ; legs and toes reddish-orange. 

 Length 24 in. ; wing 9"5 in. The female is smaller, with a very 

 distinct black bar across the wing-patch, and has the head and neck 

 of a reddish-brown : like the duck Goosander, which she somewhat 

 resembles, though her back is browner, and her dimensions are 

 much less, the length of her wing being only 9 in. The young 

 resemble her in plumage, but males may be recognized by a per- 

 ceptible enlargement at the base of the trachea ; they do not attain 

 their full dress till after their second autumn moult. The old drakes 

 lose their bridit colours in summer. 



