474 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
Siberia to the Pacific in summer, and to Japan and China in 
winter ; but in India, where the Goosander is common during the 
cold season, the Red-breasted Merganser is either exceedingly rare 
or has been overlooked, for only a single example, obtained off 
Karachi, is on record. In America it inhabits the northern dis- 
tricts from the Pacific to the Atlantic, reaching as far south in 
summer as about lat. 45° N., while its winter-range extends to the 
Bermudas. 
The nest is well concealed in heather, brushwood or long grass, 
and may be at the end of a small tunnel which leads to the middle 
of a thick growth of briars; sometimes it is in the burrow of a 
Sheld-Duck, or among broken lava in Iceland; and exceptionally it 
is almost open to the sky. The lining consists of drab-coloured 
down ; the eggs, usually laid in the latter part of May and seldom 
more than 1o in number, are drab-coloured with a greenish tinge : 
measurements 2°5 by 1°7 in. After the young are hatched the male 
may often be seen at no great distance from the female and brood, 
but if approached he soon departs; the mother, on the contrary, 
remains with the young, diving and doubling in the water with 
marvellous rapidity. The Merganser swims very low; on land, 
according to the late Mr. A. C. Chapman, it sits nearly upright. It 
feeds by day, chiefly on small fish, including trout and salmon-fry ; 
its flesh is extremely unpalatable. 
The adult male has the bill and irides red ; the head, with its long 
filamentous crest, and the upper neck, dark glossy-green ; below this, 
a white collar, divided on the nape by a narrow black line running 
to the back, which is also black; near the point of the wing a 
conspicuous tuft of white feathers broadly edged with black ; the long 
falcated inner scapulars black, and the outer ones chiefly white ; 
wing-patch white, barred with black ; rump, flanks, and tail-coverts 
vermiculated with grey; lower neck pale chestnut-brown, streaked 
with black; under parts white; legs and toes reddish-orange. 
Length 24 in.; wing 9°5 in. The female is smaller, with a very 
distinct black bar across the wing-patch, and has the head and neck 
of a reddish-brown: like the duck Goosander, which she somewhat 
resembles, though her back is browner, and her dimensions are 
much less, the length of her wing being only 9 in. The young 
resemble her in plumage, but males may be recognized by a per- 
ceptible enlargement at the base of the trachea ; they do not attain 
their full dress till after their second autumn moult. The old drakes 
lose their bright colours in summer. 
