Mergansers 



201 



sides light cinnamon finely barred with black. The female has a much smaller 

 crest and is grayish brown above and white below, while the young are similar 

 to the female, but have the crest much more rudimentary. The Hooded Mer- 

 ganser is found generally throughout North America, breeding mainly to the 

 northward and migrating southward in winter as far as Mexico and Cuba. It 

 frequents the quiet water of ponds, lakes, and slow-flowing streams, feeding 

 largely on vegetable substances. It nests in hollow trees after the manner of 

 the Wood-Duck, and lays from six to ten buffy white eggs. Mr. Bent found it 

 to be one of the 

 rarer Ducks in the 

 Devil's Lake region 

 of North Dakota, 

 while Mr. Ernest E. 

 Thompson reports 

 it as a common 

 summer resident in 

 various parts of 

 Manitoba. 



True Mergan- 

 sers. Of the true 

 Mergansers (Mer- 

 ganser) two species 

 are found in North 



America, the American (M. americanus] and the Red-breasted (M, senator). 

 All have a more or less conspicuous occipital crest, the males being grayish 

 above, somewhat pied with black and whitish, and creamy white or pale salmon- 

 colored below, while the neck and head are greenish black. Most of them nest 

 in hollow trees, but some, as the Red-breasted species, may nest on the ground, 

 under a rock or even in a hole in the ground. The eggs are usually from six to 

 ten in number and creamy or buffy white in color. 



FIG. 68. Red-breasted Merganser, Merganser serrator. 



