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98 



MERGANSERS. 



Aside from the general remarks at the head of each subfamily I 

 can add little which will aid in the identification of the species in the 

 field. Ducks are shy creatures, and familiarity with their habits is 

 gained only by long experience. 



Subfamily Merginm. Mergansers. 



The Shelldrakes or Sawbills are fish-eating Ducks. They pursue 

 and capture their prey under water, and their serrate bills seem espe- 

 cially adapted to this mode of feeding. The flesh of adult Sheldrakes 

 is rank and fishy; but the Hooded Merganser is an excellent table 

 Duck. 



KEY TO SPE01E8. 



A. Bill under 1"75, wing 800 or under .... 131; Hooded Merganser. 

 £, Bill over 1'75, wing over 8-00. 



a. Head und throat black. 



a'. Breast and bully white, tinged with sahnon. 



129. Am. Merganser ( 6 ad.). 

 a'. Breast brownish, thickly streaked and spotted witli black. 



130. Red-breasted Merganser ( 6 ad.). 



b. Head and sides of tlie neck rich rufous- brown; distance from nostril 

 to end of bill less than 1-50 . . . . 129. Am. Merganser ( 9 and iiu.). 



c. Crown grayisli brown, more or less washed with cinnamon-rufous; sides 

 of the neck cinnamon-rufous; distance from nostril to end of bill over 

 1"50 130. Red-breasted Merganser ( 9 and ini.). 



189. Merganser americanus {Ca»s.). American Merganser; 

 Goosander; Shelldrake. (8ce Fig. K}.) Ad. S. — Wliole head and upper 

 neck glossy greenish black ; hind neck, secondaries, lesser wing-coverts, and 

 ends of greater ones wliite ; back black, rump and tail ashy gray ; breast and 

 belly white, delicately tinged with salmon. Ad. 9 and Im. — Chin a'ul upper 

 tliroat white ; lower throat and entire top of the liead rufous-brown ; rest of 

 upper parts and tail ashy gray ; speculum* wliite; breast and belly white. 

 L., 25-00; \V., lO-oO; Tar., 1-8.5; B. from N., l-f)0. 



Ramje. — North .\mcrica generally ; lirccds from Minnesota nnd southern 

 New Brunswick northward; winters from Kansas, Illinois, and Maine south- 

 ward to South Carolina. 



Wiisliington, rare W. V. Long Island, uncommon W. V., Nov. to Mch. 

 Sing Sing, toleral)ly common T. V., Jan. 1 to Mch. 8. Cambridge, formerly 

 common T. V., Oct. to Dec. 



AV,s'<, of leaves, grasses, and moss, lined with down, in a hole in a tree or 

 clift'. Eij(j»^ six to ten, creamy Iniff, 2-05 x 1-75. 



" This bird is fond of plunging beneath rushing currents for its 

 food, and should it encounter a raft of floating rubbish or an ice-cake 



♦ A patch in the wing formed by the end half of the secondaries, which ia 

 Ducks are generally of a different color from the rest of the wing-feathers. 



