BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY. 121 



42 [131] Lophodytes cucullatus (Linn.). 

 Hooded Merganser ; " Hairy-crown." 



Not uncommon transient visitor ; March 1 8 to April i ; October 7 to 

 November 28. 



The Hooded Merganser is occasionally found in the salt creeks. I have 

 in my collection a female shot in the creek back of Ipswich Beach on April ist, 

 1904, and one was shot there in the fall of 1902. It appears to be more at 

 home, however, in fresh water. Thirteen were shot at Wenham Lake from Dr. 

 Phillips' shooting booth in 1900, one flock of five among them; nine in 1901 ; 

 one in 1902 ; seven in 1903 ; two in 1904. The first fresh-water Ducks seen in 

 the spring of 1904 by Dr. Phillips, were a pair of these birds on March i8th, 

 in the brook that flows from Beaver Pond, Beverly. In the autumn, most of 

 the birds are in immature plumage, and the full adults are very rare. 



The adult male Hooded Merganser is easily distinguished from the two 

 other Mergansers by its much smaller size, conspicuous crest and markings. 

 The fact that the white triangle on the posterior segment of the head has a 

 dark outer border distinguishes it from the male Bufflehead if one were to 

 depend on this point alone. In the female and immature, the smaller size and 

 darker breast serve to differentiate them from the other Mergansers. 



43 [132] Anas boschas Linn. 

 Mallard. 



Uncommon and irregular transient visitor; ver)- rare in winter ; March 27 

 to May I ; September 22 to December i (January i). 



The January record was of a bird taken in 1883, at Bo.xford, the specimen 

 being in the collection of the Peabody Academy. The May ist date is the 

 record of a single bird seen by me, in 1904, in a flock of two or three hundred 

 Black Ducks off Ipswich Beach. 



The Mallard has the same habits as the Black Duck with which it often 

 associates when here, but it appears to be much less wild ; in fact it is the 

 tamest of the Ducks. While common on the coast south of Cape Cod, it 

 appears to avoid the shores north of the Cape except on irregular occasions. 

 Thus in a record of ten years at Chebacco Lake, from 1894 to 1903, inclusive, 



