BIRDS OF XEW YORK lOI 



Lophodytes cucuUatus ( Linnaeus) 

 Hooded Merganser 



Plate 1 1 



M e r g u s c VI c u 1 1 a t u s Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. lo. 1758. i : i2g 



DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 320, fig. 265 

 L o p li o d y t c s c u c u 1 1 a t u s . A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 131 



lophod'ytes, Gr. Xot^oi, crest, and SiVr;?, liiver; CHCullCi'tus, Lat., hooded 



Description. Male: A large helmet-shaped crest, white bordered 

 with black; rest of head, neck and u])per parts black; sides cinnamon - 

 rufous finely barred with black; a tuft of enlarged feathers on sides of bieast 

 in front of the wing with double bars of black and white; speculum white 

 with two black bars; inner secondaries striped along the center with white; 

 breast and belly white; l^ill black, legs light brown; iris yellow. Female: 

 Head, neck and upper ]jarts grayish brown, darker on the back; the head 

 and neck tinged with cinnamon, especially on the crest which is qitite 

 conspicuous; throat, breast and belly white; middle wing coverts and secon- 

 daries show each a patch of white. Immature: Similar, but crest smaller. 

 Downy young: Dark hair brown above; spots on each side of back and 

 rump, and rear border of wing grayish white; lower half of head bttff, lighter 

 on throat; chest dingy; belly white. 



Length 17-18 inches; extent 25-27; wing 7.5-8; tail 4; tarsus 1.1-1.2; 

 middle toe and claw 2.35; bill 1.4— 1.5. 



Field marks. The wonderful crest of the male is distinctive even at a 

 consideraljle distance, ottr only other bird which resembles him even remotely 

 being the Buffle-head. The female ma\' l)e recognized by the slim mergine 

 l^ill, cinnamon crest, and small size for a merganser. 



The Hooded merganser. Swamp sheldrake, Hairy -head, or Water 

 pheasant is generally distributed in New York State, occurring in man\' 

 places where the other mergansers are unknown, because of its habit of 

 frequenting swamps and ponds which are too small to attract the other 

 species. It has been known to breed in the counties of Cayuga, Erie, 

 Jefferson, Ontario, Wayne, as well as those of the Catskill and Adirondack 

 regions, and Mr Howell has also found it on Long Island in midsummer, 

 but there seems to be no breeding record for that district. It is rarely 

 found throughout the winter within ottr borders, but is fairly common as 

 a migrant, arriving from the south late in March and going north in April, 



