190 OBSERVATIONS ON BIRDS. 



ducks as having been sent up to London in one 

 winter from ten decoys together ;* but this number, 

 when divided amongst the ten, is not more than 

 two hundred and sixty dozen each. Of late years, 

 the numbers taken in the decoy above spoken of 

 have greatly decreased, from causes already men- 

 tioned. 



RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.f 



Aug. 24th, 1840. A MAN brought me to-day 

 alive an adult female of the red-breasted merganser, 

 which he had taken in Swaffham Fen. This is a 

 species which is occasionally met with on our rivers 

 and streams during winter, but which I should never 

 have looked for at this season of the year. These 

 birds are generally supposed to retire northward in 

 summer ; and are known to breed in various parts of 

 Scotland and the Scotch islands. Mr. Selby found 

 them plentiful in Sutherlandshire in the month of 

 June, having then just commenced incubation. Is 

 the present individual likely to have come so far 

 south since rearing its young in those high latitudes, 

 or has it been breeding anywhere in this neighbour- 

 hood ? This last, if ascertained to be a fact, would 

 be an interesting discovery. 



* Brit. ZooL (edit. 1812), vol. ii. p. 262. 

 t Mergus serrator, Linn. 



