RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 629 



MERGUS SERRATOR. 

 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



(Plate G7.) 



Merganser cristatus, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 237 (17G0). 



Mergus serrator, Linn. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 208 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 

 Gmelin, Latham, Tcmminvk, Dresser, Saunders, &c. 



^r ■, ■, } Gmel. Sijst. Nat. i. p. 546 (1788). 



Mergus leucomelas, ) 



Merganser serrata (Linn.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. pt. ii. p. 165 (1817). 



The Red-breasted Merganser is only a winter visitor to England^ where 

 it is generally distributed^ both inland and on the coast j but in Scotland 

 north of the Clyde it is a resident, breeding on the lakes both on the main- 

 land and the adjoining islands, including the Orkneys and Shetlands, the 

 Outer Hebrides and St. Kilda. In Ireland this bird is generally distri- 

 buted both on the coast and on the inland lakes ; it is most common in 

 winter, but many remain to breed, especially in the west. 



The Red-breasted Merganser is a circumpolar bird, having almost pre- 

 cisely the same distribution as its congener the Goosander, but it is not 

 known to breed in Turkestan or the Himalayas. Its breeding-range 

 extends from about lat. 50° to the Arctic circle, but in Scandinavia it 

 reaches to the North Cape. It winters in Central and Southern Europe, 

 and occasionally wanders as far as the north coast of Africa, but is a 

 common migrant to the Black and Caspian Seas, China, and Japan. A 

 single example is said to have been obtained in Kurrachee Harbour in 

 India. On the American continent it breeds from about lat. 45^^ to the 

 Arctic circle, but its alleged occurrence in Greenland as far north as 

 lat. 73° requires confirmation. It winters in suitable localities through- 

 out the United States. It is not known that American examples dift'er in 

 any respect from those of the Old World. It has no very near ally. 



The Red-breasted Merganser loves to frequent rocky coasts where there 

 are plenty of quiet bays iuto which the mountain streamlets fall. Tiie 

 west and north coasts of Scotland, with their innumerable lochs and 

 islands, are a perfect paradise for the Red-breasted Merganser, and 

 nowhere can its habits be more easily or better studied. In Avinter it is 

 gregarious, living in flocks of varying size ; but as spring approaches, these 

 companies gradually dwindle away, and by the end of March the breeding 

 birds have generally separated into pairs. Each pair takes up its residence 

 on some quiet part of the coast, in a loch or in the neighbourhood of a 

 secluded islet. From this time until incubation commences the duck and 



