358 



FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS. 



the Old World, migrating in winter to the northern shores of the Mediterranean, 

 India, and Japan, and being replaced in North America by a variety. Nearly 

 allied is the red-breasted merganser {M. serrator), which has a circumpolar dis- 

 tribution, and breeds regularly in Scotland and Ireland. It is a rather smaller 

 bird than the goosander, the male having the head and upper neck greenish black, 

 the middle of the neck (except a dark streak behind) white, the lower neck and 

 upper breast buff streaked with black, the white feathers on the sides of the breast 



THE GOOSANDER (\ nat. size). 



bordered with black, and those on the flanks vermiculated with blackish grey. 

 Very different from either of the above is the hooded merganser {M. cucullatus), 

 distinguished by the black beak being shorter than the head, with smaller 

 serrations, by the shorter metatarsus and longer wing, and more especially by the 

 full semicircular, erect and compressed crest of hair-like feathers. In the male the 

 head and upper neck are black, with the exception of the hinder part of the crest, 

 which is white edged with black ; and the white breast is marked on each side by 

 two black crescentic bands. Mainly North American, where it ranges from Alaska 

 to Mexico, this merganser is a casual visitor to Europe. Still more different is the 



