HOODED MERGANSER. 235 



generally are white; the under tail-coverts streaked 

 with dusky. The bill is black, eye bright yellow and 

 the feet yellowish. Length about 18 inches. 



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

 and the upper parts are grayish-brown. The chin and 

 throat are white; the flanks grayish-brown. There is 

 a patch on the wing, white, crossed by a black bar, and 

 the under parts generally are white. The bill is yel- 

 lowish, darkening to brown on the margin and on the 

 nail. 



The hooded merganser is one of the most striking of 

 our North American ducks. It is exclusively a North 

 American species and occurs in Europe only as a strag- 

 gler. Throughout the whole of North America, how- 

 ever, it is generally distributed, and seems to be no less 

 abundant, for example, in Nebraska than it is on the 

 Atlantic or Pacific coasts. 



The hooded merganser breeds over much of the; 

 country, in suitable localities. Mr. Boardman has 

 found it breeding abundantly in Maine, where its nests 

 were always found in the hollows of trees, the cavity 

 being usually lined with grass, leaves and down. He 

 has related the following curious incident in regard to 

 the breeding of this bird : 



"On one of my collecting trips my attention was 

 called by the log drivers to a singular contest between 

 two ducks — it proved to be a female wood duck and a 

 female hooded merganser — for the possession of a hol- 

 low tree. Two birds had been observed for several 

 days contesting for the nest, neither permitting the 



