78 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



The adult birds feed on fish exclusively while inland as far as 

 I have been able to ascertain, preferably on the various species 

 of so called minnows and chubs, though by no means disdain- 

 ing salmon fry and trout when these are obtainable. Along 

 the coast in winter they eat many mussels and allied species of 

 mollusks, swallowing them shell and all. The shells are soon 

 ground to pieces in their intestines and stomachs, and in dead 

 birds dissected out I have traced the entire process from entire 

 mussel shells down to impalpable mud at the lower end of the 

 intestinal tract. 



130. Merganser serrator (Linn.). Red-breasted Merganser; 

 Red-breasted Shelldrake. 



Plumage of adult male : head and throat black, greenish above ; rump and 

 sides barred with black and white ; a broad rufous, black streaked band on 

 upper breast and lower neck ; breast, belly, wing coverts and secondaries 

 (speculum) white. Plumage of adult females and immatiu-e birds ; wing 

 coverts, secondaries, breast and belly white; top of head grayish brown, 

 rufous washed ; sides of head and throat rufous, paling on throat ; back and 

 tail ash gray. Wing 8.50 to 9.50; culmen 2.60; bill from nostril to end 

 usually about 1.75 ; tarsus 1.85. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern portion of the northern hemisphere, south in winter 

 on the American coasts throughout the United States ; breeds sparingly from 

 the northern tier of states northward. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; fairly common migrant, (Johnson). 

 Aroostook ; not rare summer resident about the waterways of the wilder 

 portions of the county, (Knight). Cumberland ; common fall to spring along 

 the coast, (Lord). Franklin; rare migrant, (Richards). Hancock; breeds 

 locally by single pairs or in small scattered colonies on some of the islands, 

 fairly common spring and fall, not rare winters, (Knight). Kennebec; 

 (Dill). Knox; resident, (Rackliff). Oxford; quite common, (Nash). 

 Penobscot; summer resident, nesting on the larger isolated lakes, (Knight). 

 Piscataquis; quite common summer resident, (Whitman). Sagadahoc; 

 quite plenty from fall to spring, (Spinney). Waldo; not very common and 

 not nesting of late years, (Knight). Washington; not rare, (Boardman). 

 York; (Butters). 



Though locally resident along the coast from Knox County 



eastward and nesting on a few of the outer islands, the species 



is more generally found from fall to spring when it occurs 



along the entire coast. Inland it occurs on a few of the more 



