190 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Hab. Northern portions of northern hemisphere; In America migrating south, in 

 winter, throughout the United States. 



Sp. Chae. Adult male: Head dull greenish black, duller and more brownish on the 

 forehPad and throat, the crest faintly glossed with purplish; neck and sides of the chest 

 pale fawn-color or dull buff, indi-itinotly streaked with black, the streaks being on the 

 edges of the feathers; a white collar round the upper part of the neck, just below the black 

 Lower parts pure creamy white, the sides and flanks undulated with narrow zigzag bars 

 of black. Back and scapulars uniform black; shoulders overhung by a tuft of broad feath- 

 ers, broadly margined with black, the central space being white. Anterior and outermost 

 lesser wing-coverts dark slate- gray, darker centrally; posterior lesser coverts and mid- 

 dle coverts wholly white ; greater coverts with the terminal half white, th • basal half black, 

 partly exposed, thus forming a narrow bund or bar across the wing; two innermost tei tials 

 wholly black, the rest white, edged with black; innermost secondaries entirely white; outer 

 secondaries, primary-coverts, and primaries black. Eump and upper tail-coverts dark 

 ash-gray with black shafts, centrally, finely mottled laterally with white-and-black zigzags. 

 Tail slate-gray, with black shafts. Bill deep carmine, the culmen black, the nail yellowish; 

 iris carmine; feet bright red.* Adult female: Head and neck cinnamon-brown, duller or 

 more grayish on the pileum and nape, the crest shorter than in the male; throat and lower 

 parts white, the sides and flanks ash-gray. Upper parts dark ash-gray, the feathers with 

 daiko shafts; exposed portion of greater coverts and secondaries white, the base of the 

 latter black, but seldom showing as a narrow bar; primaries bla 'k. Bill. eyes, and feet as 

 in the mal'', but less iniense in color, Y'lung: Similar to the adult female, but chin and 

 throat pale reddish, instead of pure white, tue lo.verpartof the neck and chest, brown- 

 isli white, with tlie feathers mouse-gray beneath thf surface; black at base of the second- 

 arie- e.tposed, forming a narrow bar between two white areas. Downy young: Above, 

 hair-brown, the posterior border of each wing, and a large spot on each side of the rump, 

 yellowish while; lower parts including th i malar region, yellowish white; side of head 

 and neck reddish cinnmion, paler on the lores, which are bordered above by a du'^ky 

 stripe running liaekwaid to Ihe anterior angle of the eye, and below by a dark brown, rather 

 indistinct, rirtal stripe; lower eyeliii white. 



Total length, about 2ii.i'0 to ffl.OU inches; extent, 32.00 to 35,00; wing. 8.60-9.00; culmen, 2.50; 

 tarsus, 1.80-l.yO; middle too, 2.10. 



The Red-breasted Merganser (sadly mis-named, since tlie 

 breast does not even approacli red in color), is a winter resi- 

 dent tliroug-liout Illinois and breeds from the northern ])ortion 

 of the State northward. Its habits are so like those of the 

 buff-breasted species (M. americaniis) as to require no special 

 description here. 



Genus LOPHODYTES Reichenbach. 



Lophodytes Eeichenb. Syst. Av. 1852, p. ix. Typo, Mergus cucuHatus LiNS. 

 Gen. Char Bill shorter than the head, black; serrations compressed, low, short, 

 lu'-erted obliiiuely on the edge uf the bill. T.iil more than half as long as the wings. 

 Tarsus about two thirds as long as the longest toe (with claw). Head with n full, semi- 

 circular, compressed crest of hair-like feathers. 



•Two aduU males received at the National Museum from Wood's Holl. Mass.. April 14, 

 1886, had the soft pans colored as follows; Lower mandible and feet rich scarlot-lako, the 

 webs of the latter brownish, becoming nearly black on the median portion; uiper mandible 

 blackish brown, becoming dull red along edges. Total length, before skinning, 23.50 and 

 34 inches respectively. 



