HOODED MERGANSER. 385 



still on the banks of a river as the Ohio, first hears the 

 well-known sound of wings whistling through the air, 

 presently after, a different noise, as if produced by an 

 Eagle stooping on her prey, when gliding downwards 

 with the rapidity of an arrow, he dimly perceives the 

 Hooded Mergansers sweeping past. Five or six, perhaps 

 ten, there are ; with quick beats of their pinions, they 

 fly low over the waters in wide circles. Now they have 

 spied the entrance of a creek ; they shoot into it, and in a 

 few seconds you hear the rushing noise which they make 

 as they alight on the bosom of the still pool. Up the creek 

 they proceed, washing their bodies by short plunges, and 

 splashing the water about them. Now they dive for 

 minnows, which they find in abundance, and which no 

 doubt prove delicious food to the hungry travellers. At 

 length having satisfied their appetite, they rise on wing, 

 fly low over the creek with almost incredible velocity, 

 return to the broad stream, rove along its margin until 

 they meet with a clean sand-beach, where they alight, 

 and where, secure from danger, they repose until the 

 return of day. This bird ranges throughout the United 

 States during winter, content with the food it meets with 

 in the bays and estuaries of the eastern coast, and on the 

 inland streams. The dam of the Pennsylvania miller is 

 as agreeable to it as that of the Carolina rice-planter ; even 

 the numerous streams and pools of the interior of the 

 Floridas are resorted to by this species, and there I have 

 found them full of life and gaiety, as well as on the 

 Missouri, and on our great lakes. When the weather 

 proves too cold for them they go southwards, many of 

 them removing towards Mexico." 



" The Hooded Merganser is a most expert diver, and so 

 vigilant that at times it escapes even from the best percus- 



VOL. in. c c 



