THE MERGANSERS 



279 



Among other ducks this fine bird has the bold, 

 confident air of a born free-booter. The back 

 of its head is ornamented with several long 

 feathers which form a crest, like the war-bonnet 

 of a Sioux Indian. The whole head and upper 

 neck are black, with green and purple reflec- 

 tions. Around the middle of the neck is a con- 

 spicuous white collar, and under that is the 

 pale rusty-red breast, streaked with black, 

 which gives the bird its name. 



nervous, and difficult to keep alive in captivity. 

 A fine specimen which we cherished for a time 

 in the Flying Cage of the New York Zoological 

 Park, along with many other water-birds of 

 good size, at first seemed inclined to accept 

 the situation, and become acclimatized; but 

 it lived only two months. With several Mer- 

 gansers together, the result might be more satis- 

 factory. 



The Hooded Merganser 1 is distinctly 



STBLLER S DUCK. 

 Eniconetta stdleri. 



SPECTACLED EIDER. 

 Arctonetta fischeri. 



KING EIDER. 

 Somateria spectabilis 



RUDDY DUCK. 

 Erismatura jamaicensis. 



AMERICAN MERGANSER. 

 Merganser americanus. 



HOODED MERGANSER. 

 Lophodytes cucullatus. 



This sea-going bird-craft is at home — under 

 many names — in both the Old World and the 

 New. On our continent it breeds from our 

 northern states as far as the Aleutian Islands 

 and western Alaska, where the Aleuts prize it 

 for food above all other ducks. In winter it 

 migrates along our two ocean coasts to southern 

 California and Florida. It feeds entirely on 

 fish, and the flavor of its flesh is rank and disa- 

 greeable. 



Nearly all sportsmen admire this duck, and 

 it is much to be regretted that it is so shy and 



marked by a striking, black-and-white semi- 

 circular crest of great height, standing stiffly 

 erect, and jaunty beyond compare amongst 

 water-fowl. By that crest and the slender 

 Merganser bill any one may know this bird out 

 of ten thousand species, whether seen in New 

 York or New Zealand. It ranges all over North 

 America, wherever there is water enough 

 to float it, down to Mexico and Cuba, and as a 

 result has been burdened with an appalling 



1 Lo-phod'y-tes cu-cul-la'lus. Average length, 17 

 inches. 



