203 THE SMEW 
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 
MERGUS SERRATOR 
Head, crest, and neck black, with greenish reflections ; a white collar round 
the neck; breast reddish brown, spotted with black; near the insertion 
of the wing several white spots, edged with black; speculum white, 
divided by two transverse black bars; back black ; belly white, barred 
on the flanks and rump with wavy grey lines; bill and irides red; 
feet orange. Length twenty-two inches. Female smaller; head and 
crest reddish brown; breast mottled with ash and white; upper 
plumage and flanks deep ash-colour; speculum with one black bar; bill 
and feet dull orange; irides brown. Eggs whitish ash. 
THis large and handsome bird is not uncommon in the estuaries 
and rivers of Great Britain, but is most frequent in the north. It 
is resident in Scotland and Ireland. The adult male is less fre 
quently seen than females and young males, which closely resemble 
one another in size and plumage, both being inferior to the first in 
brilliancy of colouring. Their food consists of fish, especially sand- 
eels, and, when they find their way into fresh-water lakes and rivers, 
of eels and trout, which they capture by diving, and retain with ease 
by the help of their strong bills notched throughout like a saw. 
In birds of the first year the tuft of feathers on the head is barely 
perceptible, and there is but a slight tinge of red on the lower part 
of the neck. Most of the Mergansers which resort to our shores 
during winter visit us from high latitudes; but a few remain to 
breed in the Scotch and Irish lakes, making their nests of dry herbage 
and moss mixed with down from their own breasts. 
The name Merganser, that is, ‘Diving Goose’, has reference to 
the size of the bird and its habit of diving for its food. Its flight 
is strong and rapid, but differs somewhat from that of the Ducks, 
the neck being not stretched out to its full length, but slightly folded 
back. After the young are hatched the male deserts the female and 
leaves her to bring off her brood without assistance. 
THE SMEW 
MERGUS ALBELLUS 
Crest, neck, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and all the under parts white; 
cheeks and back of the head greenish black ; two crescent-shaped marks 
advancing from the shoulders on each side to the breast black ; tail ash 
coloured ; bill and feet bluish grey, the membranes black ; irides brown. 
Length seventeen inches. Female smaller; head and cheeks reddish 
brown ; under parts white, clouded on the breast, flanks, and rump, with 
ash-grey; upper plumage and tail greyish black; wings variegated 
with black, white, and grey. Eggs whitish. 
Tue birds of this genus, though placed among the Anatidz, or Duck 
tribe, are so strongly marked by the conformation of the bill that 
a simple examination of the head alone will enable the student to 
