BIRDS OF NEW VORK 1 77 



representatives in the park and barnyard. They are ptilopaedic and 

 precocial in nature, i.e. the young are covered with down and follow their 

 mother at once. The nest is placed on the ground, or among the rocks, 

 or in hollow stumps or trees. The eggs are usually numerous, oval in shape 

 and plain in color. 



Family ANA.XIDA.B 



Ducks, Geese and Swans 



The characters of this family are practically the same as those of the 

 order defined above. There are two hundred or more species in the family, 

 found in all parts of the world. They are of great value on account of the 

 food and feathers which they furnish as well as the entertainment they 

 afford the sportsman and nature lover during their yearly migrations. 



The family as represented in New York is composed of the Merginae 

 (mergansers), Anatidae (river ducks), Plectropterinae (wood ducks), Fuli- 

 gulinae (sea ducks), Erismaturinae (stiff -tailed ducks), Anserinae (geese), 

 and Cygninae (swans). 



SubfamUy MERGIN-A.B 



Mergansers 



Bill nearly cylindrical with a hooked and overhanging nail; lamellae 

 toothlike, giving them the name of Sawbills; tarsi compressed, scullate in 

 front; halltix lobate; tail rounded, about half as long as wings, of 16 to 18 

 feathers; head more or less crested; body rather long; gullet capacious. 



Mergansers are well adapted to their diving habits and are mostly 

 pisciverous in diet. There are about eight species in the subfamily, inhabit- 

 ing the holarctic and neotropical realms. 



Mergus americanus Cassin 

 American Merganser 



Plate 10 



Mergus americanus Cassin. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc. 1853. 6:187 

 M e r gus me rg a n s e r DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 318, fig. 264 

 M e rgan s e r a me r i c a n u s A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 129 



met' gus, Lat., diver 



Description. Male : Head and upper neck greenish black ; lower neck, 

 wing coverts and middle secondaries white, the coverts crossed by a black 



