620 THE AMERICAN MERGANSER. 
<ldult female and immature: More conspicuously crested on hind-head and nape; 
the head and upper neck dark cinnamon-brown, white on chin and sides of throat ; 
above ashy blue-gray, with white speculum and black of wings much as in male; 
under-parts white, shaded on sides with color of back, and faintly tinged with 
salmon ; bill red with dusky ridge ; feet chrome-yellow or orange, with dusky webs; 
eyes yellow. Length 25.00-27.00 (635.-685.8) ; wing 10.75 (273.1); tail 4.25 
( 108.) ; bill 2.15 (54.6) ; bill from nostril 1.50 (38.1) ; tarsus 1.90 (48.3). Female 
averaging three or four inches shorter and proportioned accordingly. 
Recognition Marks.—Mallard to Brant size; long, narrow bill with promi- 
nent serrations on side; under-parts white or pale salmon tinted; no rusty or och- 
raceous on breast. Lovers of swift waters; river divers. 
Nest, occasionally on the ground, more commonly in hole of tree or stub. 
lined with moss, grasses, and feathers. Eggs, 6-10, yellowish or creamy buff. 
ING Size, Alas se wise) (yA Ss AB7/))- 
General Range.—North America generally, breeding south in the United 
States to Pennsylvania and the mountains of Colorado and California. 
Range in Ohio.—Not uncommon migrant. Winter resident in the southern 
and perhaps sparingly summer resident in the northern part of the state. 
THE first glimpse of this splendid bird ever vouchsafed the writer was 
upon the rock-bound shore of a certain emerald lake in the West. ‘The bird 
had been surprised at the water’s edge, and winged as he attempted to rise. 
With instant decision he took to the water and dove sharply. When some 
twenty feet deep, he turned and paralleled the shore, intending to make a 
landing at some distance and secrete himself among the rocks. It was a 
rare sight from my vantage point some forty feet above, to watch the duck 
cleaving the water with strong concerted strokes of his vermilion feet. In 
that limpid water the resplendent black of his head and the salmon-tinted sides 
shone almost as if there was nothing between us. I am almost sorry to add 
that his ruse was not successful, and that his skin now rests in the Oberlin 
College museum. 
Not only are these Mergansers expert divers, but the sharp “‘teeth,” 
inclining backward as they do, are calculated to hold the most slippery prey. 
Fish caught in fair pursuit form the bulk of their food, but frogs, water 
insects, cray-fish, and other crustaceans, vary the monotony. Since the taking 
of such prey depends primarily upon unimpeded eye-sight, it goes without 
saying that these birds prefer clear waters and free course. Hence, they are 
more often found upon our rivers, even the swiftest running streams, than 
upon the reservoirs and reed-grown ponds. It is to be feared that when 
the Fish Duck encounters a lusty school of minnows he does not agree that 
“enough is as good as a feast.” An Arctic authority, Hearne, states that 
it devours fish in such great quantities as to be frequently obliged to disgorge 
several before it can rise from the water. It is noteworthy in this connection 
that the skin of the throat is unusually elastic, so that the bird can accommodate 
a large catch. Dr. Wheaton mentions having captured one which had swal- 
