( 619 ) 



HOODED MERGANSER. 



Mergus cucullatus, Linn. 



PLATE CCXXXII. Vol. III. p. 246. 



Dr Bachman has favoured me with the following note respecting 

 this species : — " On the 19th April 1838, at the plantation of Major 

 Porches, on the Santee River, in South Carolina, I obtained an old 

 female Merganser and her five young ones, the latter apparently from 

 two to three weeks old. They were in a very small pond, and could 

 not be driven from it. As we approached, the female sunk deep into 

 the water, exhibiting only a very small portion of her back above the 

 surface, and swimming with neck outstretched and low along the water. 

 In endeavom-ing to drive the young to the high grounds, for the pur- 

 pose of capturing them, they all dived in various directions, like Grebes. 

 On conversing with an overseer, on the following day, he mentioned to 

 me that he had on the previous week obtained several of the yoimg in 

 order to domesticate them, but having neglected to feed them on ani- 

 mal food they had all died. On the following day I met vidth two other 

 broods, each of five, and was also shevm a cypress tree (Gupressus disti- 

 chd) in the hollow of which a pair had been breeding during the pre- 

 sent season. As far as I could learn, they breed in similar situations 

 with the Summer Duck {Anas Sponsa), although generally a little ear- 

 lier. They were all peculiarly marked with two white spots behind the 

 wings on the back. 



In an adult male, the width of the mouth is 7^ twelfths ; the palate 

 is flat, as is the anterior part of the roof of the mouth, on which are two 

 longitudinal series of slender oblique lamellas, besides the prominent 

 tooth-like plates of the margins, of which there are 33 on the upper, 

 and about 40 on the lower mandible, on each side. Tongue 1^ inch 

 long, and of the same form as in the other species. CEsophagus 7^ in- 

 ches long, 1 inch in width in the greater part of its extent, 1 inch 2 

 twelfths within the thorax. The stomach is a gizzai'd of moderate 

 strength, li inch long, 1^ inch in breadth ; its lateral muscles large, 

 being 7 twelfths in thickness ; the epithelium dense, tough, and form 



