MERGUS 637 



female has the head and upper neck dull reddish brown ; chin and front 

 of neck dull white ; upper parts dark ash with paler margins ; under parts 

 white, the lower fore neck tinged with grey ; flanks sooty grey ; in size less 

 than the male. 



Hob. Northern Europe generally, up to the North Cape and 

 Iceland ; breeds in Scotland and Ireland ; in winter to the 

 Mediterranean and North Africa ; Northern Asia, in winter to 

 Japan, China, and Northern India ; North America, breeding in 

 the far north, and in winter ranging south to Bermuda. 



In general habits it resembles the Goosander, and like that 

 bird it is an expert diver and feeds chiefly on fish. It usually 

 nests on the ground, but seldom in a hollow tree, its nest being 

 composed of moss, grass, etc., intermixed with down, and in June 

 it deposits 8 to 12 eggs, which are dull stone-buff or creamy 

 greenish grey, and measure about 2*60 by T76. 



880. HOODED MERGANSER. 

 MERGUS CUCULLATUS. 



Mergus cucullatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 207 (1766) ; Gould, B. of E. v. 

 pi. 386 ; (id.), B. of Gt. Brit. v. pi. 36 : Wils.-Am. Orn. viii. p. 79, 

 pi. 69, fig. 1 ; Dresser, ix. p. 296, pi. 696 ; (Salvadori), Cat. B. Br. 

 Mus. xxvii. p. 468 ; Audub. B. Am. vi. p. 402, pi. 413 ; Saunders,. 

 p. 477 ; Lilford, vii.' p. 144, pi. 61 ; Eidgway, p. 89. 



ad. (New Brunswick). Forehead dark brown ; head with a semi- 

 circular compressed crest, white in the middle, broadly margined with 

 black, except behind where the margin is narrow ; upper parts brownish 

 black, the scapulars deep black ; speculum white crossed by two black 

 bands ; primary quills and tail brown ; upper neck black ; lower neck 

 and under parts white ; on each side of the neck two black crescentic 

 bands ; flanks reddish brown vermiculated with blackish, under 

 tail-coverts greyish white freckled and vermiculated with warm brown ; 

 bill black ; feet and legs yellowish brown ; iris yellow. Culmenl'7, wing 

 7 '4, tail 3'8, tarsus T25 inch. The female has the crest reddish brown ; 

 rest of head, neck, and breast greyish brown, darker above ; chin, upper 

 throat, and under parts below the breast white ; flanks brown with pale 

 margins. 



Hob. North America, north to Alaska, ranging south in 

 winter to Mexico and Cuba; of accidental and very rare 

 occurrence in Greenland, a rare winter straggler to the British 

 Islands. 



In habits it resembles its congeners, but is very shy and wary, 

 flies rapidly, and is an expert diver, subsisting chiefly on fish. 



