72 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
130. Red-breasted Merganser. 
Merganser serrator (LIXN.) ScHAFF. I 780. 
This species breeds in Greenland and across the whole of the 
wooded region from Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands. It 
does not breed in the prairie region, but prefers the clear lakes 
and streams of the north. Not very common in British Columbia, 
but breeds in suitable places; breeding at Deer Park and Pass 
Creek, Columbia River, B.C., June, 1890. (Macoun.) Winters on 
Okanagan Lake, B.C. (Lvooks.) 
BREEDING NotEes.—Nests on rivers and lakes. Breeding at 
Buffalo Lake, Alberta, also at Lake Manitoba, 1896. (Dzpfre.) 
Breeds at Shoal Lake and Lake Manitoba. (Rame.) On an island 
in the Yukon Delta, Dall found six nests of this bird. They were 
all carefully concealed under dead leaves, and were generally 
sheltered by a log of driftwood, in a small hollow, lined with 
down from the parent’s breast. They contained from six to ten 
rich cream-coloured eggs. 
On the Alaskan coast they breed everywhere in suitable places 
from Sitka north to Icy Cape, and perhaps to Point Barrow. The 
first eggs are laid early in June, and the site for the nest, on the 
marshes, is ordinarily the same as that chosen by other species of 
ducks with the usual foresight as to concealment and proximity 
toa pond. (JVelson.) 
This species used to breed frequently among the Thousand 
Islands, River St. Lawrence. Only a few pairs now remain to do 
so, the majority going east and north. In June, 1893, I saw a 
flock of upwards of twenty about fourteen miles above Brock- 
ville ; of course, all adults. In the following year, in the last week 
in June, I saw a flock of about the same number at the ‘The 
Ducks,” Lake Ontario. I have met with the nest twice at the 
east end of Lake Ontario, on islands, on the 27th June, 1896, 
and on the 30th June the same year. On the first occasion I had 
landed on a rocky island, and while passing some cedars a Mer- 
ganser flew from underneath. I concluded there was a nest and 
by searching soon found it, containing six eggs. This nest was 
well hidden away among thick branches of cedar, and was found 
in a depression of the rock, it was made of dried grass and well 
lined with down of the bird. Incubation had commenced seven 
or eight days. The other nest was in a somewhat similar posi- 
