AMERICAN MERGANSER. 22J 



In the female the head and neck are reddish-brown, 

 and there is a long crest on the back of the head, much 

 more marked than in the male. The chin and throat 

 are white, the upper parts gray. About one-half of 

 each secondary feather is white, forming a speculum 

 on the wing. The primaries are black, the flanks and 

 tail gray. The lower parts are pinkish salmon-color in 

 life, fading to white. The bill and feet are red. 



Valueless as food, the great merganser is certainly 

 one of our most beautiful and graceful birds. It is a 

 close relative of the goosander of Europe, and was long 

 considered to be the same bird. The differences on 

 which they are separated are very slight. The mer- 

 ganser is a resident of the extreme North in summer. 

 It IS found in Alaska, though apparently not very com- 

 mon there; and, in fact, it does not seem to be a very 

 common bird anywhere, both the other species exceed- 

 mg It in numbers. It is one of our most hardy birds 

 and one of the last to go South in the autumn; and, in- 

 deed, It will remain about air holes in the rivers, where 

 it can fish, long after most other ducks have taken their 

 departure for the South. 



It is well established that the goosander breeds in the 

 hollows of trees, wherever trees are accessible, though 

 some observers who have reported nests of this species 

 from the far North, beyond where timber grows, state 

 that it builds its nest upon the ground in the ordinary 

 manner of many of the salt-water ducks. 



Definite information as to the breeding habits of this 

 merganser was first given by Mr. Geo. A. Boardman, 



