416 MERG1DJS. 



Mergus merganser, Lin. 



972. M. castor, Lin. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 817 ; 



Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 309 ; Game Birds of 



India, Vol. Ill, p. 299. 



THE MERGANSEK. 



Length, * 25'0 to 28*1, V 22'9 to 25'0 ; expanse, <J 35'6 to 

 40-8, ? 34-5 to 37'8; wing, <? 10'95 to 121, ? 9'8 to 10'95; 

 tail, 9 4-8 to 5-9, ? 4'6 to 5'65 ; tarsus, <T, 2, ? 175; bill, 3 

 2'8, 2'5 ; weight, 2 to 3 T * ff Ibs. 



Bill deep blood-red, black on culmen, edges paler ; irides red ; 

 feet orange-red. 



Male : Head (with a short thick crest) and upper part of the 

 neck, glossy blackish-green ; lower part of the neck white ; upper 

 back and scapulars next the body deep black ; the rest of the 

 back and upper tail-coverts ashy ; the tips of the feathers whitish 

 here and there ; tail ashy-grey ; breast, abdomen, and under 

 tail-coverts, white, tinged with orange-buff ; wing -coverts and 

 outermost scapulars rich buff-orange, and the latter edged with 

 black. 



The female (and young males till the second moult) have the 

 head and neck reddish-brown ; the throat white ; the upper 

 plumage ashy ; beneath yellowish-white ; the sides of the breast, 

 and the flanks pale ashy ; a white speculum ; primaries black ; 

 tail ashy-brown. 



The Goosander is believed to occur in Sind. 



Mergus serrator, Lin. 



9726is. Murray's Vertebrate Zoology of Sind, p. 308 ; Game 



Birds of India, Vol. Ill, p. 305. 



THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



<?, Length, 24 to 26; expanse, 29 to 32*5 ; wing, 9 to 10; 

 tail, 3'1 to 4'2 ; tarsus, T8 to 2'05 ; bill at front, 2'4 to 2*5. 



In the male the bill varies from orange-red to deep vermilion, 

 is more or less dusky on the edge, and has the nail varying from 

 pale yellowish-grey to almost black. In young females there is 

 more dusky on the upper mandible, where the red is often only 

 a lateral band. 



The whole head, chin, throat and the neck all round, for about 

 one inch, black, glossed with metallic green on the sides of the 

 head and a bluer sheen elsewhere ; along the middle of the crown 

 and occiput runs a comparatively narrow line of excessively narrow, 

 more or less disintegrated, webbed, elongate feathers, of which the 

 longest are over three inches in length, forming a conspicuous 

 crest ; the rest of the neck all round, to just the base, pure white, 

 with a conspicuous narrow black line down the centre of its 

 hinder aspect ; at the base of the neck a light brownish-rufous, 

 or pale brownish-chesnut band, extends all round, narrower 

 behind and broadening into a crop-patch. This band is streaked 



