NATATORES : ANATID.E. 



The Genus Mergus has the bill very narrow, slender, 

 longer than the head, and conspicuously serrated. 



The Sheldrake, Goosander, or Fish Duck, M. ameri- 

 canus, Cass., of North America, is twenty-six and a half 

 'inches long, and the wing eleven inches ; the male is 

 without a conspicuous crest, the head and neck green, 

 fore part of the back black ; lower parts salmon-color. 

 The female has a depressed occipital crest ; head and 

 neck chestnut, upper parts ashy, lower like the male. 



The Red-breasted Merganser, M. serrator, Linn., of 

 North America and Europe, is twenty-three and a quarter 

 inches long, the wing eight and three fifths inches ; head 

 and upper part of neck all round, dark green ; under 

 parts reddish white ; head with a conspicuous, pointed 

 occipital crest. The female has the head chestnut-brown, 

 body ashy above, and reddish white beneath. 



The Genus Lophodytes has the bill shorter than the 

 head, the serrations short, and the head with a very con- 

 spicuous, compressed, circular, erect crest. 



The Hooded Merganser, L. cucullatus, Reich., of all 

 North America, is seventeen and a half inches long, and 

 the wing nearly eight inches ; the head, neck, and back, 

 black; the under parts, and centre of the crest, white. 

 The female has the crest shorter and more pointed, the 

 head and neck reddish brown. 



The Sub-Order of Gaviae includes three great tribes ; 

 Totipalmi, comprising Pelicanidae 01 Pelican Family, Su- 

 lidae or Gannet Family, Tachypetidae, Phalacrocoracidae 

 or Cormorant Family, Plotidae, and Phaetonidae; Longi- 

 pennes, comprising Procellaridae or Petrel Family, and 

 Laridae or Gull Family ; and Brachypteri, comprising 

 Colymbidae or Diver Family, and Alcidae or Auk Family. 



PELICANHXE, OR PELICAN FAMILY. This Family com- 

 prises swimming birds which have the bill long, hooked at 

 the end, nostrils hardly perceptible, wings long, pointed, 



