32 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



ago in the history of Lancaster county, Pa., the Goosander, also the 

 Red-breasted and Hooded Mergansers are all mentioned as breeding in 

 Lancaster county. According to Mr. E. A. Samuels (Our Northern and 

 Eastern Birds} this species " is one of the most abundant summer resi- 

 dents in the lake region of northern Maine." Dr. Walter Van Fleet, of 

 Renovo, Pa., says this Merganser breeds in Clinton county. Prof. Au- 

 gust Koch, of Williamsport, Pa., in a letter addressed to me dated June 

 26, 1889, writes as follows : " The Hooded and American Mergansers 

 are regular breeders (in Ly coming county) ; have taken the young of 

 both before they were able to fly." From all the information I can 

 obtain the Goosander has not been known to breed for many years past 

 anywhere in Pennsylvania other than the counties of Clinton and Ly- 

 coming, and in both of these localities Dr. Van Fleet and Prof. Koch 

 have observed the species to be a rare summer resident, but common in 

 the spring and fall and of frequent occurrence in the winter when the 

 streams are not frozen over. I have never had the good fortune to find 

 a nest of this species, but according to different writers it usually builds 

 its nest of leaves, grasses, moss, feathers and down, in hollow trees ; 

 "eggs 68, elliptical, buff-colored, 2.75x2." Coues. 



This species, like all other of our " wild ducks," is exceedingly shy 

 and difficult to approach. According to Audubon, "the food of the 

 Goosander consists chiefly of fish, but also of bivalve shells, snails, 

 leeches, aquatic lizards, crays and frogs. Its' voracity is great, so that 

 it consumes an extraordinary quantity of fish. I have found fishes in 

 its stomach seven inches in length, and of smaller kinds, so many as to 

 weigh more than half a pound. Digestion takes place with great 

 rapidity, insomuch that some which I have had in captivity devoured 

 more than two dozen of fishes about four inches in length, four times 

 daily, and yet always seemed to be desirous of more." 



The stomachs of nine of these Mergansers, which I have examined, 

 contained only the remains of fish. 



Merganser serrator (LINN.). 



Red-breasted Merganser ; Fish duck. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Nostrils narrow and situated near base of bill ; bill longer than head ; frontal 

 feathers do not extend beyond those on side of bill ; both sexes have long and 

 pointed occipital crests. Legs and bill are red, brighter in male than female ; iris 

 carmine. 



Male. Head and upper part of neck front and back dark-green ; white ring about 

 lower part of neck; jugulum brownish-red, with black and dusky streaks ; back 

 black ; under parts yellowish-white ; wings crossed by two black bars. 



Female. Head grayish reddish-brown ; upper parts grayish lead color ; throat 

 and under parts yellowish-white and sides grayish. Length about 24 inches ; extent 

 about 32 inches. 



Habitat. Northern portion of Northern Hemisphere ; south in winter through- 

 out the United States. 



