THE MERGANSERS 



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eye and the beak, but the rest of the head, neck, and under parts mostly white; 

 the plumage of the upper parts being pied with black, brown, gray, and white. 

 Females have the head and back of the neck mainly reddish brown with an incon- 

 spicuous crest. The smew is an inhabitant of the more Arctic regions of the Old 

 World in the breeding season, rarely visiting the British Islands in winter, but 

 to the eastward migrating as far south as the north of Africa, Northern India, 

 and Japan. 



Although in Europe the mergansers very generally frequent the 

 coast, those species which visit India are more commonly observed on 

 inland waters. All are strong, albeit somewhat heavy fliers, and most expert swim- 



Habits 



HOODED MERGANSER. 



mers and divers; but on the land their movements are awkward and ungainly. 

 Their food consists entirely of fish, mollusks, and crustaceans, most of which are 

 procured by diving; and in consequence of this diet their flesh is unpalatable in the 

 extreme. When fishing in flocks, as is often the habit of the goosander, the whole 

 party may frequently be seen to dive simultaneously, although not uncommonly a 

 few remain above water as if to act as sentinels. While the red-breasted merganser 

 nests on the ground among bushes, heather, or long grass, the goosander nearly 

 always, if not invariably, selects a hollow tree, or, failing that, a cleft in a rock, as 

 a breeding place, sometimes taking advantage of the nest of a crow or other bird. 

 The creamy white eggs of the latter species are from eight to twelve in number; 

 and the young, as soon as hatched, are carried down one by one from the nest to 

 the water in the beak of their parent. When floating at ease the goosander sits as 

 high in the water as a duck, but when swimming settles down as deep as a cormo- 

 rant, while when pursued nothing more than the head and neck appears. On the 

 larger Indian rivers, writes Mr. Hume, "they will float down with the stream for a 

 couple of miles, and if not hungry, they rise and fly back again, but more commonly 

 they fish their way back, diving incessantly the whole way, and, despite their ac- 



