480 Strong, Red-breasted Merganser. Loct. 



with a light gray down which also partially covered the eggs. The 

 down occurred in the usual abundance for nests of this species 

 and presented a comfortable appearance. 



Another nest which was found nearby was placed in the midst 

 of a patch of nettles {Urtica gracilis) and bushes. Other nests were 

 found in various positions of concealment. One was among nettles 

 alongside a large drift-log. The nest shown in Plate XXI, fig. 2 

 was at the base of a bush in a position similar to that occupied by 

 nest No. 1, but with a drift log at one side. Still another nest was 

 among some roots of a tree on the side of a bank in a little cave 

 which had been formed by erosion of the soil about the base of the 

 tree. Usually the nests were within seventy-five feet of the water, 

 but one was found over one hundred feet away from water, and 

 some fifty feet or more back in dense woods and underbrush. This 

 nest was well concealed by ground conifers, and the brooding 

 female was flushed at my feet. Except when the bird was flushed 

 suddenly from her nest, the eggs were usually found covered 

 more or less completely with down. Dall ^ states that six nests 

 which were found on an island in the Yukon River, Alaska, near 

 its mouth, were all carefully concealed under dry leaves. He 

 found most of the nests in small hollows under logs of drift wood. 

 It is stated by Meyer ^ that the nest may be placed in a recess 

 many feet deep in a hollow tree. Mr. H. L. Ward, in conversa- 

 tion, told the writer of a nest observed by him in a barrel. 

 Meyer claims that the nest may also be in the top of a tall tree. 



Yarrel ^ mentions locations under projecting rocks or in thick 

 brushwood. He describes the nest as being composed of moss and 

 lined with down from the bird, and he notes a similarity of the nest 

 both in structure and in materials to that of the Eider Duck. 

 This resemblance Avas also noticed by xA.udubon,* but he says that 

 the nest of the Red-breasted Merganser is better-fashioned and 

 considerably smaller. He described the construction as consist- 

 ing of dry weeds and mosses of various kinds " warmly lined with 

 down from the breast of the female bird." 



1 Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. The Water Birds of North America. Vol. 2, 

 pp. 116-120. Quotes Dall. 



2 Meyer, H. L. British Birds. 1842. Vol. 6, pp. 179-183. 



« Yarrell, W. A History of British Birds. 1856. Vol. 3, pp. 392-397. 

 * Audubon, J. J. Ornithological BiographV- Vol. V, pp. 92-99. 



