320 NEW-YORK FAUNA BIRDS. 



THE HOODED SHELDRAKE. 

 Mergus ctjcullatus. 



PLATE CiJL. VUi. -JOS. 



Mergus cucullatus, LlNNSUS, p. 207. Hooded Merganser, Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 538. 



M, id. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 8, p. 79, pi. 69, fig. 1. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 397. Audubon, 



B. of A. Vol. 6, p. 402, pi. 413. Nottall, Man. Om. Vol.2, p. 465. Giracd, Birds of Long 



island, p. 341. 



Characteristics. Bill blackish red ; feet dusky; a large circular compressed crest. Male, 

 black ; beneath white ; crest black; white on each side behind. Female, 

 sooty brown ; beneath white ; crest rusty ash, without the white. 

 Length, 18-0. 



Description. Bill short, deeper than broad at the base ; the teeth about twenty-five, not 

 conical : transverse furrows on the palate. Crest large, erect, compressed, semicircular, ex- 

 tending from the forehead to the occiput. Tarsus 1 • 2 in length. Tail short, subacute, of 

 sixteen feathers. 



Color. Male, a triangular white patch extending from the eye to near the edge of the 

 crest on each side : remainder of the crest, including the tips of all the feathers, greenish 

 black. Bill blackish : feet greenish yellow. Sides and summit of the head, neck, bars on 

 the shoulders, back, scapulars and tertials greenish black ; tips of the greater coverts, outer 

 edges of the secondaries and all beneath white ; flanks reddish, minutely waved with black. 

 Female : Forehead, sides of the head and all the neck dark ash. Crest shorter, and of a 

 uniform reddish brown. All above dark brown, with a tinge of ash, and minutely barred 

 with black. Young, no black bars on the shoulders, nor white on the scarcely visible crest. 

 Head, neck and breast pale brown, edged with paler. 



Length, 17-5-19-0. 



The Hairy-head, or Whistler, or Water Pheasant, as this species is called in this State, is 

 not as common on the seacoast as either of the two preceding, but is more confined to the 

 interior. It breeds from Carolina, through the interior along the great lakes, to high northern 

 latitudes. It is said to range from 24° to 68° north latitude, and to occur only accidentally 

 in Europe. Its eggs, food and habits, like the preceding. 



' (EXTRA LIMITAL.) 



M. albellus, Lin. (Aud. lb. Vol. 6, p. 408.) Mirror black crossed with white. Bill and feet bluish. 

 Tail of sixteen feathers. Male, white varied with black ; crown white : a short band on each side 

 of the hind neck bordering the crest, deep green. Female, cinereous ; beneath white; crest reddish 

 brown. Length, 17.5. Accidental in America. 



