RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 395 



rous woody islands. Richard Dann, Esq. sent me word 

 that the Merganser is far more numerously spread ojer 

 Norway and Sweden than the Goosander; it breeds on 

 all the coasts, and is also found in the Dofre Field and 

 Lapland mountains as high as the birch grows. This 

 species is found in Greenland, in Iceland, and at the 

 Faroe Islands; in Russia, and on the great rivers of 

 Siberia and Lake Baikal. Its food is fish, obtained by 

 diving, which its serrated beak, with the horny nail de- 

 pending at a right angle from the upper mandible, enables 

 it to catch and hold with certainty. M. Temminck says 

 this species is abundant on the shores of Holland, and 

 sometimes on the marshes of the interior : it is found 

 also in Germany, Switzerland, Provence, and Italy. A 

 few are seen at Corfu, in Sicily, and at Malta, in winter. 

 According to M. Temminck, birds from Japan exactly 

 resemble European examples. 



The Red-breasted Merganser is found, as stated, in 

 Greenland, Newfoundland, and Hudson's Bay. Sir John 

 Richardson obtained specimens in the fur-countries of 

 North America ; and interesting accounts of its habits in 

 the United States are given by the ornithologists of those 

 countries. 



In the adult male the upper mandible is dark reddish- 

 brown, except the edges, which are of a brighter red, 

 under mandible wholly red ; irides red ; all the head and 

 the upper part of the neck dark, but shining green, the 

 feathers on the crown and occiput elongated ; middle of 

 neck all round white, except a narrow line of black de- 

 scending from the occiput to the upper part of the back, 

 which, with the shoulders, is also black ; the short 

 scapulars white, those more elongated are black ; before 

 the point of the wing on each side are several roundish 



