ANATID/E. 



477 



THE HOODED MERGANSER. 



Mergus cucullatus, Linnaeus. 



There are several unauthenticated statements respecting the 

 occurrence of this North American species in British waters, but 

 the records upon which reliance can be placed are very few in 

 number. Eyton, in his ' History of the Rarer British Birds ' (p. 75), 

 has described and figured a Hooded Merganser which he obtained 

 in the Menai Straits, North Wales, in the winter of 1830-31. In 

 Ireland, Mr. Ussher has not been able to find, among the birds at 

 Chute Hall, Tralee, the specimen said to have been killed in Dingle 

 Bay, CO. Kerry, about 1840 ; while he has been equally unsuccessful 

 with regard to an immature bird stated by Watters to have been 

 shot in CO. Meath. Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, however, has had the good 

 fortune to secure no fewer than three (' Fowler in Ireland,' p. 121). 

 Of the latter, a pair haunted a creek in Cork Harbour during the 

 severe frost of December 1878, in company with some Red-breasted 

 Mergansers ; but though he had ample opportunities of observing 

 through a glass their motions when feeding and flying, they were 

 too wild to allow of his approach within range, until one day when 

 they were deserted by their companions. He killed the third bird 

 during yet more severe weather in January 1881, on the north coast 

 of Kerry ; while he heard of a solitary individual being shot near 

 Sligo the same winter, but believes that it was not preserved. From 

 what he saw of those he procured, they appeared to fly faster and 



