1912 J Strong, Red-breasted Merganser, 485 



Crustacea and larvae, caught upon the surface of the water, but on 

 the third day are able to dive, and from the eighth day are quite 

 capable of fishing for themselves." Robinson ^ found a "small 

 round crab" in the stomach of a male Red-breasted Merganser 

 which was dissected, and more crabs of the same size were seen 

 in the gizzard. All that the writer knew about the food of mer- 

 gansers when these birds were hatched, was that they eat fish. 



As it was not practicable to depend upon fish for feeding the 

 little mergansers, bits of boiled egg and liver were forced into 

 the mouths of the unappreciative and wriggling babies. These 

 attempts met with very little success, and the prospects of rearing 

 any of the birds were not bright. It happened that grasshoppers 

 were exceedingly abundant at the time, and these were tried with 

 success, though one of the birds died on the 13th and another on 

 the 14th. The third began to take the grasshoppers willingly, 

 especially when they were offered by the hen. Two days later, 

 this bird ate eight grasshoppers which averaged over an inch in 

 length, at a single meal. As the writer was away in the field a 

 good deal, the feeding was done irregularly but was attended to at 

 least three or four times a day. 



The grasshoppers were often taken directly by the little mergan- 

 ser the moment they dropped to the ground in the pen from the 

 writer's hands, especially when the victim moved. If it remained 

 quiet, it was often overlooked. When the bird was about a week 

 old it would dart after an escaping grasshopper with great speed 

 and skill. 



The operation of swallowing a grasshopper usually involved many 

 manipulations. (See Plate XXIII, fig. 2.) Rapid movements 

 of the mandibles and of the whole head for that matter, were 

 involved, and it seemed to be often quite an undertaking. Even 

 when the head-end was taken first, projecting wings or legs caused 

 a lot of trouble. On July 25, thirty grasshoppers of the size 

 mentioned were eaten by this bird. 



The hen was given food for her own consumption in the form of 

 grain, and table scraps. These were offered to the merganser 

 persistently by the hen but they were not accepted at first. During 



I Robinson, H. W. British Birds. Vol. II, p. 31. 



