Il8 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



broad white breast, without a reddish ring or collar. The male americanus 

 unlike the male serrator has no crest. The former is distinctly larger than the 

 Red-breasted one, looking especially long when flying, but the most striking 

 point about the American is the great expanse of white bosom, seen when he 

 flies overhead or stands up in the water to flap his wings. At close range 

 and in some lights at a distance the faint salmon tint of the breast can be seen. 

 The female and young can often be distinguished, even at a considerable dis- 

 tance, from the female and young Red-breasted Mergansers, which they other- 

 wise closely resemble, by their white throats contrasting sharply with the darker 

 brown head and lower throat. In the Red-breasted species the whole throat is 

 whitish to a pale rufous shading gradually into the darker color of the lower 

 throat. From the American Golden-eye, even at a distance, the adult male 

 American Merganser is distinguished by his low forehead and long red bill, and 

 by the absence of a white spot on the side of the head. The chunkier build of 

 the Golden-eye with his large head and shorter neck always make the differenti- 

 ation an easy one. 



41 [130] Merganser serrator (Linn.). 

 Red-breasted Merganser; "Shelldrake." 



Abundant transient and winter visitor ; a few spend the summer ; Septem- 

 ber 23 to May 20 (summer). 



When a bird spends the summer as commonly as does the Red-breasted 

 Merganser, it is rather difficult to set the limit to the migrations. It is evident, 

 however, that of the 42 birds of this species I counted off Ipswich Beach on 

 May 20th, 1904, most of them were bound north, for during that summer only 

 two were to be seen in that locality. Some of the summer-spending Mergansers 

 are cripples from the winter's shooting ; others that appear uninjured may be set 

 down as barren birds. In the summer of 1903, an adult male and a female or 

 immature male were frequently to be seen in company, and they were both 

 good swimmers, divers, and flyers. 



By the end of the first week in October, the Red-breasted Mergansers 

 begin to be common off the beach at Ipswich in small and large flocks that are 

 made up almost entirely of females and immature birds of both se.xes. The 

 males arrive later in November, and by the last of December and throughout the 

 winter the flocks consist almost entirely of adult males. Only a few in imma- 

 ture or female plumage are to be found. Thus on January 24th, 1904, out of 

 about 500 Red-breasted Mergansers, off Ipswich Beach, I could find only si.x 



