MERGA'NTSEE PERRATOE. 285 



Morris, who gives a longer note on the nidification of the Red-breasted 

 Merganser than on most dncks, observes : — " These birds build, it seems, 

 on the borders of, and small islands in, lakes, whether of fresh or salt 

 water, and rivers, preferring such as have a growth of wood, the nests 

 being placed a few yards from the edge, at the foot of the tree, or under the 

 shelter of brushwood, in the midst of grass, fern, nettles, or other wild 

 vegetation. Also in divers other situations, among stones in a hollow, on 

 the bare ground, at the top of a tall tree, or in the deserted nest of some 

 other bird, or in the end of a deep recess. It has been known, moreover, 

 in a bleak and unsheltered situation, on an island in the sea, at some 

 distance from the mainland. The materials of its composition are moss, 

 flags, stalks, grass, small roots, and feathers, placed carelessly together, and 

 intermixed with down of the bird, added to, it appears, as incubation 

 advances. 



" The eggs are from six or seven to nine, ten, or eleven in number, of a 

 rich reddish-yellow or brownish-fawn colour. As soon as the females 

 begin to sit, the males quit them for the season. The species appears to be 

 late in its nidification, scarcely beginning to build before the end of May 

 or the early part of June. The bird sits very close, and will almost allow 

 herself to be trodden on before she will leave the nest." 



With this summary of Morris's most writers agree, but the eggs are 

 said to vary from five to fifteen in number, and many authors remark on 

 the fact that the nest of this Merganser is, comparatively perhaps, unusually 

 well put together and compact. All note the curious way the down is 

 felted in with the rest of the materials into the body of the nest, as well as 

 being used as a copious lining. 



It should be noted that, in Holstein, Boje found it breeding in old 

 crows' nests. 



The eggs in my collection vary in length between 2"39 and 2"f35 inches, 

 and in breadth only between 1*7 and 1'7G. They are very similar to the 

 eggs of the Goosander, but are, on the whole, rather broader ovals; all are 

 somewhat darker in colour, and two have a well-defined greenish tint. 

 One clutch was taken on the 29th April, 1899, and anothei- on the lOth 

 June, 1880, and the third 2nd July, 1898. 



