SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks 



poor-will's cry is filled with vague foreboding; the Night 

 Heron's merely suggests that he has half swallowed a 

 particularly unappetizing frog, and wishes to unswallow it. 



This is the most gregarious of all the Herons. Dr. Wood 

 tells of a swamp some miles from East Windsor, Conn., 

 which was the breeding-place of thousands. Samuels knew 

 of a Heronry near Dedham, Mass., where a hundred pairs 

 were collected in the space of an acre, and he at once 

 realized the force of AVilson's comment on a like congrega- 

 tion, that, " The noise of the old and the yoimg would almost 

 induce one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians 

 Avere throttling each other." 



As the birds resort, year after year, to the same crowded 

 breeding-grounds, it can be easily imagined that these 

 Heronries are not the most attractive places for ornitho- 

 logical research. 



I had very much doubted the present existence of such 

 extensive colonies in populous regions, but Mr. Chapman in 

 his " Guide to the Birds found near New York," which has 

 been mentioned before, says, " There is a colony containing 

 about one thousand pairs not far from New York City." 



ORDER ANSERES: LAMELLIROSTRAL 

 SWIMMERS. 1 



FAMILY ANATIDtE : DUCKS, GEESE, ETC. 



Sub-family Mergix.i;: MERGANf?Er!s. 



American Merganser: 3Ierganser americanus. 



Fish Duck. 



Plate XIV. Fig. 4. 



Length: 23.50-27 inches. 



3Iale : Bill toothed, chiefly red. Head slightly crested, and with upper 

 neck very dark glossy green ; upper half of back black. Below, 

 breast and part of the neck white, belly salmon. Wings largely 

 white, banded with black. 



1 Term derived from the plan of bill, which is lamellate, signifying 

 that the mandibles are furnished with a series of laminar or saw-toothed 

 projections fitting into each other. 



255 



