ME RGUS. 



237 



tail, which consists of eighteen pointed feathers, is of 

 a grey colour. The principal quills and coverts are 

 brownish black, with the exception of the middle 

 secondaries and the extremities of their coverts, and 

 these form a white speculum or wing-spot. The 

 head and neck of the female are rust-coloured, the 

 tipper part is of a greyish tint, and the under part 

 white with a yellowish shade. In consequence of 

 this she has been figured and described as the " Dun 

 Diver ;" and the young male, which resembles her in 

 colour, has been considered as the male of the same. 

 The bill and feet are reddish ash colour. 



This species is strong and active, and a most suc- 

 cessful fisher, so that when it comes southward its 

 visits to fish ponds are by no means courted. The 

 nest is generally formed among rocks and stones, 

 though sometimes in the holes of trees ; the eggs are 

 rather numerous, being a dozen or more ; they are 

 of a yellowish white colour, and taper almost equally 

 to both ends. In some countries they are eagerly 

 sought after as articles of food, though the flesh is 

 hardly eatable by anybody. The male attends the 

 female during the incubation ; but as soon as the 

 young appear the sexes separate, and the males asso- 

 ciate in one place, while the female and her brood 

 remain in another, till the end of the summer, and 

 probably till the pairing time again comes round. In 

 all probability this is the reason why the male was 

 described as one species under the name of goos- 

 ander, and the female and young male as another 

 species, under the name of the dun diver. This is a 

 point in the economy of birds to which it is necessary 

 to attend, especially where the females and young 

 resemble each other in colour, and are different from 

 the males. 



Red-breasted Merganser (M. serrator}. This is a 

 smaller species than the former, measuring only about 

 one foot nine inches in length, and two feet and a 

 half in the stretch of the wings, and its weight does 

 hot exceed two pounds. It is, however, a bird of 

 more powerful wing than the goosander, and there- 

 fore it is more discursive. It breeds far to the north, 

 as far as Hudson's Bay ; but as it also ranges far to 

 the south in the winter, stragglers remain to breed in 

 southerly places. In severe winters it is not uncom- 

 mon on some parts of the northern shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and it is particularly abundant in the 

 lagoons about Venice. It quits all these southerly 

 latitudes when the spring begins to break ; and about 

 the beginning of June it reaches its most northerly 

 latitudes, where it immediately begins the grand 

 business of the season. The nest is usually in con- 

 cealment, close by the margin of some fresh water. 

 Externally the nest is formed of dry stalks and 

 withered grass, and the bird pulls the down from its 

 own breast to form a soft lining for the interior. The 

 eggs are about the size of those of a common duck, 

 of an ash-coloured white, and averaging about a dozen 

 ia number. 



The bill is long for the size of the bird, measuring 

 full three inches from the gape to the point ; the 

 edges are toothed in their whole length, more closely 

 than the goosander, but they are not so distinct, 

 neither is the point of the upper mandible quite so 

 much hooked. The feet and middle part of the breast 

 red, with some dusky mottlings on the latter. The hind 

 part of the head has a loose crest pendant over the 

 nape, and that and the head and the upper part of 

 the neck are deep green, with reflections of purple. 



The upper part of the back is black, the lower part 

 and the sides of the flanks mottled with brown and 

 grey. A spot on the shoulder, the scapular feathers 

 next the wing, the wing-spot and the belly, white ; 

 but the wing-spot is surrounded by black, and crossed 

 by two lines of the same colour. The head and neck 

 of the female are brownish, the breast mottled with 

 grey, the back ashen grey, the wings dull brown, with 

 only one black bar across the wing-spot. 



The Smew, or White Nun (M. Albellus), is, like the 

 rest, a native of northern climates, and very abundant 

 in both continents. It is smaller than either of the 

 former two, more elegant in its form, more decided in 

 the markings of its plumage, more vigorous on the 

 wing, and more discursive. It is in fact one of the 

 most elegant of the aquatic birds, and one which is 

 very lively in its motions, whether in the air or in 

 the water. 



The male bird measures about a foot and a half in 

 length, and two feet three inches in the expanse of 

 the wings ; and its weight is a pound and a half or a little 

 more. The bill is about two inches in length, tapering 

 toward the extremity, which has a strong hooked nail, 

 but the edges are not so deeply toothed. The prevail- 

 ing colours are pure black and white, finely contrasted 

 with each other, only some portions of the black have 

 beautiful green reflections in some positions of the 

 light. This is the case with a large and well-defined 

 spot on each eye ; and the under part of the crest is 

 black, which marks very perfectly the contour of the 

 hind head, and makes the upper or white part of the 

 crest appear like a detached streamer. The rest of 

 the head, the neck down to the shoulders, and all the 

 lower part, are spotless white, except the under sides 

 of the wings, which are beautifully waved with black 

 lines. The middle of the back is black, but the sca- 

 pular feathers are white, except a few elegantly curved 

 of black, which extend toward the breast, and the 

 anterior of the three pairs of curves almost meet in 

 front. The edge of the wing, the primary quills, and 

 the greater coverts and secondaries, are black, only 

 the last two have white tips, which form a broad 

 patch and two narrow bands of that colour. The tail, 

 which consists of sixteen feathers, is dark ash colour. 

 The female is not nearly so large as the male ; the 

 crest is also smaller and reddish brown, the spot on 

 the eye is dusky ; there is a pale brown collar round 

 the neck ; the shoulders and breast are pale brown ; 

 and those parts which are black in the male are dull 

 ash colour in the female. The bill and feet in the 

 male are bluish black ; those in the female are pale 

 blue. The young males are marked in the same 

 manner as the female, and this has of course given 

 rise to the supposition that both were of a different 

 species from the mature male. 



These birds range further to the south than perhaps 

 any of the others, both in the eastern continent and 

 in America ; and wherever they visit, the elegance 

 of their forms, and the strong contrast of colours in 

 their plumage, render them objects of great attention. 



The Hooded Merganser (M. cucullatus) is under- 

 stood to be peculiar to the American continent, unless 

 when it straggles eastward, which, even in Britain, 

 is very rare. It is rather longer than the white nun, 

 but shorter in the wings, and not so handsome a bird. 

 The bill is very much toothed, resembling that of the 

 goosander both in shape and colour. The eyes are 

 small and golden yellow, and the feet reddish. The 

 head is furnished with a large crest which spreads like 



