Widmann — A Preliminary Catalog of the Birds of Missouri. 31 

 *131. LoPHODYTES cucuLLATus (Linn.). Hooded Merganser. 



Mergus cucuUatus. Sawbill. Hooded Sheldrake. Fishduck. 



Geog. Dist. — ^Whole North America; breeding through most 

 of its range; south in winter to Cuba and Mexico; a few remain 

 in the southern states. 



In Missouri the Hooded Merganser is, in favorable locahties, 

 a fairly common summer resident from early in March till No- 

 vember. The heavily wooded bottoms of the larger rivers and 

 the swampy southeastern counties are the breeding grounds of 

 this species, often mistaken for Wood Ducks, especially the 

 females and young ones, sometimes even the males, the dress of 

 which is much plainer in summer than in early spring. More 

 common and generally distributed are the transient visitants in 

 spring and fall. Some stay in mild winters, but as a rule the last 

 leave the state in December and return in March. 



Subfamily Anatinae. River Ducks. 

 *132. Anas boshas Linn. Mallard. 



Anas domestica. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern hemisphere. Breeds chiefly north of 

 United States from Greenland to Alaska. Formerly a breeder in 

 most of the United States west of the Alleghanies and north of the 

 Ohio Valley, it is now rare in the Eastern, but still common in 

 some of the Western States. Winters through the Southern 

 States to central Mexico and Lower California, rarely to Central 

 \merica and Cuba. 



In Missouri the Mallard is a very common transient visitant; 

 in spring from the breaking up of the ice in January or February to 

 about April 25, most numerous in the second and third week of 

 March; in fall from early in September to the middle of Decem- 

 ber. The bulk generally does not come before October 10 to 

 northern Missouri, and not before October 20 to the southeast, 

 and leaves the former about November 20 and the latter nearly a 

 month later. Many remain in open winters, and even in severe 

 winters a few are known to have wintered in northern Missouri, 

 taking refuge in air holes caused by warm springs in rivers and 

 visiting cornfields in the daytime. A few pairs still find safe 

 breeding grounds in the large tracts of spartina grass in the 

 marshes of north Missouri, but, as the open season for duck 



