RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



T^HIS well-known species is an inhabitant of both the 

 Old and New Worlds, and the birds of the different 

 hemispheres, unlike the Goosander, have been permitted 

 to remain as one species, not even the slightest character 

 having been discovered whereby they could be separated. 

 It is known in many parts of our country by various 

 names, those most commonly employed perhaps being, 

 Sheldrake, Fisherman, Eish Duck, Shelduck, Saw Bill, 

 Pied Sheldrake, Big Hairy Crown, Red-headed Mergan- 

 ser, and the one at the head of this article. In North 

 America it breeds from the Northern States in the 

 Union, as far as the Aleutian Islands and coast of Alaska, 

 and is common in the district of St. Michael. Mr. Tur- 

 ner found it abundant in the islands of Attn and Atkha of 

 the Aleutian chain. It arrives there in the latter part of 

 May or beginning of June, and remains through the 

 summer; and the young are fully fledged in September. 

 The Aleuts consider its flesh a great delicacy, and it is 

 more highly prized by them than any other Duck. In 

 winter it migrates as far as southern California on the 

 Pacific coast, and to Florida on the Atlantic. 



This Merganser is more of a marine species than the 

 Goosander, and is frequently met with on our coasts, and 

 up the rivers that empty into the sea. Its nest is placed 

 upon the ground, generally hidden under a bank, or 

 some rock or fallen trunk of a tree, and is formed of 

 grass, together with feathers and down plucked from the 

 parents' breast. The eggs, usually seven to ten in num- 



