Family ANATID^. Genus Mergus. 



Subfamily Foligulin^, 



RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



MERGUS SERRATOR— Zm«(s«j. 



Geographical Distribution. — British: Common resident 

 in the north, but only a winter visitor in the south. Generally 

 distributed along the English coasts and, in smaller numbers, 

 on the inland waters, during winter ; breeds throughout Scotland 

 in all suitable districts, both inland and on the coasts, north to 

 the Orkneys and Shetlands, and west to the Outer Hebrides and 

 St. Kilda. Generally distributed in Ireland, both inland and 

 on the coast, and breeds most abundantly on the wild, broken 

 coast of the west. Foreign: Circumpolar, northern Palaearctic 

 and Nearctic regions ; more southerly in winter. Breeds in 

 Greenland, Iceland, the Faroes, and throughout Scandinavia; 

 thence across the basin of the Baltic and Russia, as far north as 

 the Arctic Circle, and south to the Volga and Ural districts in 

 lat. 50°. Eastwards it ranges across Siberia south of the Arctic 

 Circle to the Pacific, but is not known to breed in Turkestan 

 or the Himalayas. Its summer range in America extends a 

 little lower, and during that season it ranges from about lat. 45° 

 north to the Arctic Circle, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. 

 During winter it is found on the inland waters and coasts of 

 Central and Southern Europe as far south as the Mediterranean, 

 but only accidentally on the African coast. It is also common at 

 this season in the Black and Caspian Seas, in Turkestan, China, 

 and Japan ; whilst on the American Continent it ranges through- 

 out the United States, and occasionally visits the Bermudas. 



Allied Forms. — None of sufficient propinquity to call for 

 notice. 



