444 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Family ANATIDJE. Genus MERGANSER. 



Subfamily MERGING. 



RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



MEEGANSEE SEEEATOK (Linnaus) . 



Mergus serrator, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 208 (1766) ; Dresser. B. Bur. vi. p. 693, pi. 453 

 (1874) ; Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 629 (1885); Yarrell, Brit. B. ed 4, iv. p. 494 

 (1885) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. pt. xxi. (1892) ; Dixon, Nests and Eggs Brit. B. 

 p. 247 (1893) ; Seebohm, Col. Fig. Eggs Brit. B. p. 56 pi. 16 (1896). 



Merganser serrator (Linn.), Macgill, Brit. B. v. p. 216 (1852) ; Salvadori, Cat. B. 

 Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 479 (1895) ; Sharpe, Handb. B. Gt. Brit. iii. p. 61 (1896). 



Geographical distribution. British : The Eed-breasted Merganser 

 is a common resident in the north, but only a winter visitor in the south of our 

 Islands. It is generally distributed along the English coasts and, in smaller 

 numbers, on the inland waters, during winter, and breeds throughout Scotland 

 in all suitable districts, both inland and on the coasts, north to the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, and west to the Outer Hebrides and St. Kilda. It is generally dis- 

 tributed in Ireland, both inland and on the coast, and breeds most abundantly 

 on the wild, broken coast of the west. Foreign : Northern Palsearctic and 

 Nearctic regions, more southerly in winter. It breeds in Greenland, Iceland, the 

 Faroes, and throughout Scandinavia ; thence across the basin of the Baltic and 

 Eussia, as far north as the Arctic Circle, and south to the Volga and Ural districts 

 in lat. 50. Eastwards it ranges across Siberia south of the Arctic Circle to the 

 Pacific, but is not known to breed in Turkestan or the Himalayas. Its summer 

 range in America extends a little lower, and during that season it ranges from 

 about lat. 45 north to the Arctic Circle, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

 During winter it is found on the inland waters and coasts of Central and 

 Southern Europe as far south as the Mediterranean, but only accidentally on the 

 African coast. It is also common at this season in the Black and Caspian Seas, 

 in Turkestan, China, and Japan ; whilst on the American Continent it ranges 

 throughout the United States, and occasionally visits the Bermudas. 



Allied forms. None of sufficient propinquity to call for notice. 



Habits. Our resident Eed-breasted Mergansers are considerably increased 

 in numbers in autumn by migratory individuals from higher latitudes, which 

 return again in spring. A considerable southern movement also takes place 



