HOODED MERGANSER. 



\A/ATER Pheasant, Hairy Head, Hairy Crown, 

 Swamp and Pond Sheldrake, Cock Robin, Little 

 Saw Bill, Saw-bill Diver, Spike Bill, Wood Duck, Bee 

 Scie and Cotton Head in Louisiana, and Hooded Mer- 

 ofanser are some of the names by which this beautiful 

 bird is known to the gunners and sportsmen of the United 

 States. Numerous others are also given it, some of which 

 are extremely local, and never heard save by a very few. 

 It is much smaller than the two preceding species of 

 Merganser, and the male is remarkable for the large and 

 beautiful crest, white, margined with black. It is exclu- 

 sively a North American species, and has only appeared 

 at rare intervals in the Old World, where it can be re- 

 garded merely as a straggler. It ranges all over North 

 America from Alaska and possibly Greenland, on the 

 respective sides of the continent, to Mexico and Cuba. 

 In Alaska it is rare and probably only wanders up to that 

 Territory in the summer time in small scattering flocks, 

 but is very common in the United States, breeding in 

 many parts of the land, even as far south as Florida, and 

 spreading all over the Union in autumn and winter. This 

 species, like the Goosander, breeds in hollow trees, lining 

 the cavity with grass, dry leaves, and feathers, and down 

 from the female's breast, and about six ivory white eggs 

 are deposited. The site for the nest is generally in some 

 tree standing on the border of an inland lake or stream 

 in the forest, where discovery would be least likely, and 



