XXXVII 



THE MERGANSERS 



MERGANSERS, or spike-bill ducks, as they are 

 often called, are given in the check-list as a sepa- 

 rate family of the order swimmers. There are three 

 species : The American merganser, the red-breasted 

 merganser, and the hooded-merganser. 



These birds are readily distinguished from the 

 ducks by their slim, serrated spike-like bills, which sug- 

 gested the names saw-bill and spike-bill, often given 

 them. They are all fish-eating birds, and dive and 

 swim rapidly under water in pursuit of small fish, 

 which they are enabled to catch with their sharp- 

 edged bills. They are not very desirable as food, and 

 can hardly be considered game birds, but they are 

 often shot by sportsmen when in pursuit of better 

 fowls, and at some places on the coast large flocks of 

 decoys painted to resemble these birds are kept, and 

 spike-bills are shot over them. 



They are as much entitled to a place in this volume 

 as the old squaws and coots already described, and are 

 about as difficult to dispose of when shot. 



The mergansers are all very handsome birds, and as 

 they fly swiftly present excellent marks. I have eaten 

 them when cooked by the wife of a bayman who was 

 fully aware of the difficulties surrounding their prepa- 

 ration, and they satisfied the appetite which we had 



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