498 Anatidce. 



gorged, it retires to open water to rest and digest its food, and 

 allows itself to be rocked by the waves. Whence its designation 

 in some districts of Vrak-fogcl, or ' Wreck Bird/ implying that at 

 such times it lies like a wreck on the billows.* Most of the 

 provincial names given to its congeners, as related above, are also 

 indiscriminately applied to this species, for in the eyes of fisher- 

 men and labourers small distinctions are overlooked ; so this, 

 too, is the 'Harle,' the 'Saw-bill,' and the 'Jack Saw;' but I 

 believe alone it enjoys the names of 'Dundiver' and 'Sparling 

 Fowl,' as given it by Bewick, Montagu, and others. Before I 

 take leave of this genus, I would quote the following instructive 

 passage from the masterly hand of Sir R. Payne-Gallwey : 

 1 Mergansers have longer wings and lighter bodies for their size 

 than the diving ducks, and are therefore more powerful on the 

 wing than the latter. Their actions, like those of other divers, 

 when alighting, are governed by their power of rising. Feet and 

 legs being near the tail, they cannot fly from, or pitch on, the 

 water with the facility exhibited by the true ducks. In structure 

 they are admirably formed for fishing; and their prey once 

 caught has as much chance of escaping from the serrated beak 

 as has a roach from the mouth of a pike. As in the case of the 

 pike, the saw-like teeth on the edges of the mandibles curve 

 inwards/ ( In France it is Grand Harle ; in Germany, Oansen- 

 Sager oder Taucher Gans, ' Diving Goose ' ; and in Italy, Mergo 

 oca marina e Mergo dominicano. When alive, this species 

 shows a most delicate rose colour on its neck and breast, which 

 (as in the case of Pastor roseus and several other species) fades 

 very quickly after death. A magnificent specimen which I once 

 procured from a Norfolk fenman as he was returning with his 

 spoil, and which quite glowed with a rich rosy hue, soon after 

 faded (to my intense disgust) to a dingy smoke colour, and has 

 now no trace of its former beauty. 



* Lloyd's ' Scandinavian Adventures,' vol. ii., p. 480. 

 f ' The Fowler in Ireland,' p. 117. 



