BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 269 



THE Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator, Linnaeus) is 

 a winter visitant to England, but nests in both Scotland 

 and Ireland, and is also found in the Northern Palearctic 

 and Nearctic Regions. The adult male in summer has the 

 head, crest, and upper portion of neck greenish-black, with 

 purple reflections ; a black line runs down the back of the 

 neck ; near the point of the wing is a tuft of white feathers 

 with broad black edgings; mantle, portion of shoulders, 

 inner scapulars, basal half of greater wing-coverts, second- 

 aries, and primaries, rich black; speculum, white; long 

 tertials bordered with black; white collar round neck; 

 upper part of breast, pale chestnut-brown, streaked with 

 black; remainder of under parts, white; flanks, rump, and 

 tail-coverts have grey vermiculations ; irides, red ; bill, red ; 

 nail, black; legs and feet, reddish-orange. Length, about 

 twenty-two inches. The adult female is much less than the 

 male, and is reddish-brown on the head and neck ; a black 

 bar runs across the alar speculum. 



