54 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



gansers feeding, no salmon will rise, and we ourselves have 

 had practical experience of this. 



Mr. Arch. Harper, Brawl Castle, Thurso, N.B., writes : 

 " I shot several mergansers within the last fortnight, and 

 being anxious to know what they feed on at all seasons of 

 the year, I opened the stomachs of them all. They, with- 

 out exception, had the same quality, although the quantity 

 of food varied, viz., from three to seven pars in each. 

 Some of the pars were six inches long. I have now shot 

 and examined these birds at all seasons of the year on this 

 river, and they invariably have par in their stomachs, and 

 nothing else." 



Still, destructive to sport and great gobbler of all kinds 

 of fry as he is, the male bird is as handsome as he can be. 

 Just put your glass upon him when you happen to catch 

 him quietly resting on a pool and not alarmed ; see what a 

 splendid plumage, his dark head and back, resplendent with 

 green and purple hue, the beautiful crest and scarlet ser- 

 rated beak, the white throat, and speckled breast of buff 

 and black, mottled black and white wing-coverts, orange 

 legs and feet ; notice particularly his wicked red eye, 

 vicious to a degree, as if he would dispute with you the 

 possession of the pool, though wary enough to get out of 

 your way. The female is brown, with whitish-grey breast. 

 The male bird never accompanies the female and brood in 

 their peregrinations. It appears as soon as the young are 

 hatched he takes himself off to the sea-coast, leaving his 

 mate to do all the family duties. 



Another bird of this family, the GOOSANDER (Mergus 

 merganser), is occasionally found breeding on some of the 

 lochs in Scotland ; but it is a very rare bird, and, happily, 

 does not interfere with the sport of the rod-fisher. 



THE TEAL. 



The TEAL (Anas creccd) is one of the smallest of our 

 ducks, and is very prettily marked. It is not often seen 

 on our rivers of the south, but frequents most of the 



