OP THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 447 



Genus LOPHODYTES, or Hooded Mergansers. 



Type, LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS. 



Lophodytes, of Eeichenbach (1852.)* — The birds comprising the present 

 genus are characterised by having the culmen longer than the metatarsus, and 

 the tooth-like serrations on both mandibles are short and blunt, and not distinctly 

 inclined backwards at the tips. The nostrils are lateral and central. The wings 

 are moderately long. Three toes in front connected with webs ; hind toe moderate 

 and lobed. 



This genus contains a single species only, confined to the New World. It is 

 an inhabitant of North America generally, from Alaska to Mexico and Cuba. It 

 is an abnormal migrant to the British Islands. 



The habits of the single species in the genus are fully described in the 

 following chapter. 



* ? 1850. 



