No. 21.] 



BIRD NAMES. 



67 



No. 21. Female. 



brown (of duller tint, commonly, than in female No. 20), the 

 upper part of head darker, of grayish tone ; a streak of this gray 

 running back along by eye from bill, the throat paling to white , 

 remainder of neck, back, sides, and tail brownish gray, with pale 

 edgings to the feathers ; wing chiefly dark brown, marked with 

 white as in picture. Under parts white. Bill and legs of duller 

 tint than in adult male. 



Length twenty-two to twenty-four inches ; extent thirty-two 

 to thirty-four inches. 



A very common water-fowl. Range, as given in A. O. D. 

 Check List : " Northern portions of northern hemisphere ; south, 

 in winter, throughout the United States." 



The female of this species is easily confused with that of No. 

 20. Note difference in line of feathering at base of bill, and 

 position of nostrils, on following page. 



Our mergansers, all three of them, are much better eating 

 than commonly supposed ; though, as is the case with numerous 

 species, they are less desirable in some localities than in others. 

 Once, while at Lane's, on Shinnecock Bay, L. I., I had the fun 

 of watching a gentleman, who regarded fowl of this sort with 

 holy horror, ravenously devour a bird of the present species. 



