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INDIAN DUCKS AND THEIR ALLIES. 219 
the Mediterranean basin, Central Asia to Persia, Northern India, China 
and Japan, and in America to the United States. 
On the whole it is a more northern bird than the Goosander and is 
circumpolar, whereas the latter is an eastern or old-world form. 
In India there is no doubt that it occurs only as the most rare of 
stragelers. 
The first specimen quoted as being an Indian one, and which was the 
only one known to Hume at the time “Game Birds ” was written, was 
erroneously so recorded, Blanford corrects this mistake ; he says 
*¢ The bird stated in ‘ Stray Feathers’ (b.s. c.) and the British Museum 
Jatalogue to have been shot by Captain Bishop at Manora, Karachi 
Harbour, was really obtained by him at Chakbar in Persian Baluchis- 
tan. This correction is founded on a letter from Captain Bishop to 
Mr. Cumming, which I have seen.” 
In “Stray Feathers” (V, p. 323), Captain (then) H. A. Butler notes : 
“There isa fine specimen, a 9, of this species in the Frere Hall 
Museum, shot by Capt. Bishop, at the Manora point off the Karachi 
Harbour, another specimen has just now been captured, at the end 
of June.” Both these birds are referred to as M. castor, but the first was 
the M. serrator obtained by Capt, Bishop at Chakbar as already noted. 
Whether the second bird was MZ. casior or M. serrator I cannot ascertain. 
Beyond this there are only two recorded instances of the actual 
occurrence of the Red-breasted Merganser within our limits. Of these 
the first was that obtained by Major Yerbury at Karachi, and which 
may be the second noted by Capt. Butler. Jhe wings of this are in 
the British Museum. 
The other Indian specimen is that in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 
an unsexed specimen obtained in the Calcutta bazaar on December 
17th, 1889. 
The habits of this bird vary little from those of the last, the main 
thing about it mereiy being the fact that it is more essentially a sea 
bird. Like the Goosander it generally associates in rather small flocks, 
but may occasionally be seen in parties numbering as many as two 
hundred or even more. 
Dresser, writing of this bird, observes: “In the Gulf of Bothnia, 
where the sea is fresh-water, 1 found it extremely common in the 
summer season, frequenting the coasts and less often the inland lakes, 
