188 MERGANSERS 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



1. Bill under 1*75, wing 8'QO or under 131. HOODED MERGANSER. 



2. Bill over 1*75, wing over 8'00. 



A. Head and throat black. 



a. Breast and belly white, tinged with salmon. 



129. AM. MERGANSER (& ad.). 

 6. Breast brownish, thickly streaked and spotted with black. 



130. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (<? ad.). 



B. Head and throat not black. 



a. Head and sides of the neck rich rufous-brown; distance from nostril 



to end of bill less thpn T50 . . 129. AM. MERGANSER (9 and im.). 



b. Crown grayish brown, more or less washed with cinnamon-rufous: 



sides of the neck cinnamon-rufous; distance from nostril to end of 

 bill over 1*50 . . 130. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER (9 and im.). 



129. Mergus americanus (Cass.). AMERICAN MERGANSER. (Fig. 

 33.) Ad. tf. Whole head and upper neck glossy greenish black; hindneck, 

 secondaries, lesser wing-coverts, and ends of greater ones white; back black, 

 rump and tail ashy gray; breast and belly white, delicately tinged with 

 salmon. Ad. 9 and Im. Chin and upper throat white; lower throat and 

 entire top of the head rufous-brown; rest of upperparts and tail ashy gray; 

 speculum* white; breast and belly white. L. 25'00; w., 10'50; Tar., T85; 

 B., from N. 1*50. 



Range. N. Am. Breeds from s. Alaska, s. Yukon, Great Slave Lake, 

 cen. Keewatin, s. Ungava, and N. F. s. to cen. Ore., s. S. D., s. Minn., cen. 

 Mich., Ohio (formerly), n. N. Y., Vt., N. H., and Maine, and in mountains, 

 s. to n. Calif., cen. Ariz., n. N. Mex., and Pa. (formerly); winters from 

 Aleutian Islands, B. C., Idaho, n. Colo., s. Wise., s. Ont., n. New Eng- 

 land, and N. B., s. to n. L. Calif., n. Mex. (Chihuahua), Tex., La., Fla., 

 and Bermuda. 



Washington, rare W. V., Oct. 13-May 26. L. I., uncommon W. V. 

 Nov. 4-Dec. 30. Ossining, tolerably common T. V., Jan. 1-Mch. 8. Cam- 

 bridge, rare T. V. and W. V. N. Ohio, W. V., Nov. 1-May. Glen Ellyri, 

 T. V., spring only, May 7-12. SE. Minn., T. V., Mch. 9, casual W. R. 



Nest, of leaves, grasses and moss, lined with down, in a hole in a tree or 

 cliff. Eggs, 6-10, creamy buff, 2'65 x 1'75. Date, Saginaw Is., Mich., May 

 26. 



"This bird is fond of plunging beneath rushing currents for its food, 

 and should it encounter a raft of floating rubbish, or an ice-cake, it 

 will readily pass underneath it. It swims so deeply as to afford the 

 gunner but a small mark, and dives so quickly at the snap or flash of 

 his gun that he stands but a small chance of killing it. 



"On being surprised, the Goosander may rise directly out of the 

 water, but more commonly pats the surface with his feet for some 

 yards and then rises to windward. A whole flock thus rising from some 

 foaming current affords a spirited scene. Once on the wing, the flight 

 is straight, strong, and rapid" (Langille). 



130. Mergus serrator (Linn.). RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Ad. d". 

 Whole head and throat black, more greenish above; a white ring around 

 neck; a broad cinnamon-rufous band with black streaks on upper breast and 

 sides of lower neck; lesser wing-coverts, tips of greater ones, secondaries, 

 breast and belly white; rump and sides finely barred with black and white. 



*A patch in the wing formed by the end half of the secondaries, which in Ducks 

 are generally of a different color from the rest of the wing-feathers. 



