HOODED MEKGANSEK 159 



greenish-black), and a black patch surrounding the eye which 

 reaches in front as far as the base of the beak ; neck, breast, 

 abdomen, and under tail-coverts, white ; wings, chiefly white, 

 barred with black ; primaries and tail-feathers, brownish- 

 black ; upper tail-coverts, brownish ; back, black ; scapulars, 

 white ; flanks, finely pencilled with grey ; from the upper 

 part of the back a narrow curved black line extends 

 forwards over the root of the neck ; another curved line 

 passes across the front of the wing. 



Adult male, post-nuptial or eclipse. Resembles the 

 female plumage, but at once distinguishable by the presence 

 of the two narrow curved black lines described above. 



Adult female nuptial. Head, crest, and back of neck, 

 chestnut ; black patch in front of eye ; round the neck is a 

 collar of light greyish-brown ; back, lighter in shade than 

 in the male. 



Adult winter, male and female. Similar to the respective 

 nuptial plumages. 



Immature, male and female. The back and wings are 

 to a large extent mottled-grey, and there is no black patch 

 on the face. 



BEAK. Slate-blue ; serrated like that of the Merganser, 

 but much shorter in proportion. 



FEET. Dull bluish-grey. 



IBIDES. Red. 



AVERAGE MEASUREMENTS. 



TOTAL LENGTH ... ... 17'5 in. Female smaller. 



WING 7-6 



BEAK 1'25 



TARSO-METATARSUS ... 1 



EGG 2 x 1-45 in. 



HOODED MERGANSER. Mergus cucullatus (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 36 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. ix, pi. 696 ; Lilford, 

 ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vii, pi. 61. 



The Hooded Merganser, a North American species, is an 

 extremely rare wanderer to British waters. Ireland has 

 yielded most records, about six in number. Only three of 

 these are thoroughly substantiated. Mr. Ussher has failed 

 to trace two specimens supposed to have been shot and 

 preserved ; one stated to have been obtained in 1840 at 



