592 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



Length, about 20.00-25.00; wing, 8.60-9.00; culmen, 2.50; tarsus, 

 1.80-1.90. 



RANGE. Northern portions of northern hemisphere; in America, 

 it breeds from northern Illinois, Michigan and that latitude north- 

 ward. It winters from its southern breeding limit southward. 



Nest, on ground, beneath projecting rock or other object, of moss 

 or leaves, lined with down. Eggs, 6-12; yellowish or reddish-drab; 

 2.57 by 1.73. 



Migrant and winter resident throughout the State. Generally rare, 

 but occasionally, on the larger bodies of water, rather common. Mr. 

 J. G. Parker, Jr., notes that it is an occasional winter visitor on Lake 

 Michigan. Mr. Ruthven Deane says they remain at English Lake, 



Head of a Red- breasted Merganser, with outline of bill from above. Natural size. 



Ind., as long as there is open water. On the 22d of November, 1891, 

 he found them abundant there. Over the southern part of the State 

 they are found in winter, as is the last species, except that they 

 are much fewer in number. They go northward as the rivers are 

 freed from ice in early spring. The records generally show them 

 moving in March. During that month they may be found on the 

 streams of southern and middle Indiana; and in March and April 

 they frequent the marshes of the northern part of the State. They 

 go northward earlier than the last mentioned species, or at least 

 they do not seem to linger as does that form. They are by far 

 the rarest of the fish ducks with us. Returning from their breed- 

 ing places, they are found about the marshes in the northern part 

 of the State, sometimes quite abundantly, but generally they are 

 rare. In October or November, usually, they occur in small 

 numbers, one or two to four or five together, but sometimes quite 

 large flocks are met with. Mr. Parker informs me that April 10, 

 1897, a beautiful male Red-breasted Merganser was killed on the Kan- 



