242 WILD-FOWL 



after a stormy day on the bay. When canvas-backs 

 and mergansers are both on the table, however, I take 

 the former. 



THE AMERICAN MERGANSER 



Many names are given to this handsome fowl — shel- 

 drake, buff-breasted sheldrake, goosander, saw-duck, 

 and sea saw-bill, are the most familiar. 



Migratory, like the ducks, the sheldrake is distri- 

 buted throughout North America, and breeds in some 

 of the Northern States. Like the wood-duck it builds 

 its nest in the trees, selecting a hole which often seems 

 too small to admit it. It flies rapidly and comes well 

 to the decoys. 



This bird is less common than the other mergansers 

 and is far handsomer than any of them. It is easily 

 distinguished by its black head with iridescent green 

 reflections. 



I have shot these birds now and then when duck- 

 shooting, but have more often spared them, for the 

 reason that they are not worth cooking when one is 

 shooting ducks. 



Upon one occasion a very handsome specimen flew 

 up from the water before my boat as I was being 

 punted on a prairie stream. It was an easy mark 

 going straight away, but at the crack of the gun the 

 bird dove from the air and was lost to sight in the 

 stream. I was under the impression that I had killed 

 it, but as the punter sent the boat swiftly forward he 

 cautioned me to look out for it, and it soon came up 

 and was in the air again. I did better with the second 

 barrel and the bird fell dead upon the water. The 



