14 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



drakes are seldom, if ever, seen, but towards the second week in 

 February they make their appearance in large numbers. 



These ducks frequent sounds and creeks where there are oyster 

 banks. The species is essentially maritime on this coast. The 

 flesh is rank and fishy and hence unfit for food. 



36. Lophodytes cucullatus (Linn.). Hooded Merganser. 



This duck is also a very abundant winter visitant on the coast, 

 but I have never detected it in the breeding season. My earliest 

 autumnal record is November 2, and some birds remain until the 

 second week in April. In almost all the autumn and early 

 winter specimens that I have shot, the adult males have the 

 breast bands coalesced, thus forming an uninterrupted band of 

 black and ashy across the chest. This plumage may be seasonal, 

 but it is present in nearly every specimen that I have examined 

 during the past twenty years, and I suspect that this may prove 

 to be a local form which has been known to breed on the Santee 

 River, and also on the Altamaha River, in Georgia. 



As regards the breeding of this species in South Carolina, I 

 quote the following from Audubon: ' 



Dr. Bachman has favored me with the following note respecting this species: — 

 On the 19th of April, 1838, at the plantation of Major Porches [Porcher] on the 

 Santee River, in South Carolina, I obtained an old female Merganser and her fine 

 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 endeavoring to drive the young to the high grounds, for the purpose of 

 capturing them, they all dived in various directions, like Grebes. On convers- 

 ing with an overseer, on the following day, he mentioned to me that he had on 

 the previous week obtained several of the young in order to domesticate them, 

 but having neglected to feed them on animal food they had all died. On the fol- 

 lowing day I met with two other broods, each of five, and was also shown a 

 cypress tree (Cupressus disticha) in the hollow of which a pair had been breeding 

 during the present season. As far as I could learn, they breed in similar situa- 

 tions with the Summer Duck (Anas sponsa), although generally a little earlier. 

 They were all peculiarly marked with two white spots behind the wings on the 

 back. 



Bachman's record of the breeding of this species is the only 

 well authenticated one for the State. The plantation referred 

 to by Dr. Bachman is named "Mexico," and was owned by Ma- 

 jor Samuel Porcher. His overseer, whose name was Samuel 

 Foxworth, lived and died on the plantation, which is situated in 

 St. Stephen's Parish, Berkeley county. I am indebted to Mr. 



i Birds of America, VI, 404-405. 



