HOODED MERGANSER. 391 



The female is rather smaller in size ; the head, neck, 

 back, and wings dark brown; top of the head reddish- 

 brown, the feathers elongated ; chin white ; neck in front 

 pale brown, the edges of the feathers lighter in colour ; 

 under parts white ; bill, irides, and feet, as in the males. 

 The young birds resemble the female for the first year ; 

 during the second the black and white about the head 

 appears in young males ; in the third spring they are com- 

 plete. 



The female measures seventeen inches and a half in her 

 whole length ; the wing from the point seven inches. 



