202 THE SMEW 



THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 



MERGUS SERRATOR 



Head, crest, and neck black, with greenish reflections ; a wliite coHar 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 o^ 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. 



The birds of this genus, though placed among the Anatidae, 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 



