HOODED MERGANSER. 249 



The males do not acquire the full beauty of their plumage until the 

 third spring, but resemble the females for the first year. In the course 

 of the second, the crest becomes more developed, and the white and black 

 markings about the head and body are more distinct. The third spring 

 they are complete, such as you see the bird represented in the plate. 



Mergus cucullatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 207 Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. 



p. 830 Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 397. 



Hooded Merganser, Mergus cucullatus, S'lvaiiis. and Richards. Fauna Bor. 



Amer. part ii. p. 463. — Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 405. 



Adult Male. Plate CCXXXII. Fig. 1. 



Bill about the length of the head, straight, somewhat cylindrical, 

 deeper than broad at the base. Upper mandible with the dorsal outline 

 sloping gently to the middle, then straight, along the unguis curved, the 

 ridge broad at the base, then convex, the sides sloping at the base, con- 

 vex towards the end, the edges serrated beneath, with twenty-five tooth- 

 like lamellae directed backwards, the unguis oblong, much curved, round- 

 ed at the end. Nasal groove oblong, subbasal, filled by a soft membrane ; 

 nostrils linear-elliptical, submedial, direct, pervious. Lower mandible, 

 with the angle very narrow and extended to the roundish unguis, the sides 

 rounded, with a long narrow groove, the edges with about twenty-five la- 

 mellae. 



Head of moderate size, compressed, oblong. Neck rather short, body 

 full and depressed. Wings small. Feet placed far behind, extremely 

 short ; tibia bare for a short space above the joint ; tarsus extremely 

 short, compressed, anteriorly covered with scutella, and another row on 

 the lower half externally, the sides reticulate. Hind toe very small, with 

 an inferior free membrane ; anterior toes double the length of the tarsus ; 

 second shorter than fourth, which is nearly as long as the third, all con- 

 nected by reticulated webs, of which the outer is deeply cut ; the outer 

 toe shghtly margined, the inner with a broad marginal membrane. Claws 

 short, considerably curved, compressed, acute, that of the middle toe with 

 a thin inner edge. 



Plumage on the upper parts strong and imbricated, on the lower 

 blended and glossed ; on the head and neck soft and blended, the feathers 

 of the upper part of the head elongated and capable of being erected into 

 a long compressed rounded crest, those of the shoulders very broad and 



