WATER BIRDS. 75 
_ Distribution.—Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere; south 
in winter throughout the United States. 
Most of what has been said about the preceding species applies also 
to this, but the Red-breasted Shelldrake in most parts of the state does 
not seem to be as common at 
any season as the Goosander. 
Like the latter it is found on 
ponds and streams in the interior 
as well as on the Great Lakes, 
and it also feeds mainly on fish 
and crayfish and dives in the 
same manner as other members 
of the genus. 
Like the Goosander it fre- 
quently winters in southern and 
middle Michigan and this fact 
makes it difficult to fix accurate- 
ly the time of arrival and depar- 
ture of the migrants. Probably the 
largest numbers move northward Fig. 10. Red-breasted Merganser. 
early in April and the spring mi- “and'uasiam NewYork, (Houston Miglin eee 
gration is completed by the first 
of May. Most of the southward migration takes place in October. 
Even in the Upper Peninsula, however, some linger until December, and 
Mr. Thomas B. Wyman, of Negaunee, Marquette county, says that it is 
frequent there along open streams in winter. 
In its nesting habits it differs somewhat from the Goosander since, so 
far as known, it invariably nests on the ground, sometimes under a log 
or stump, but often under the low spreading branches of an evergreen 
or even a thick clump of bushes or weeds. So far as I can learn it has not 
been found nesting in the southern parts of the state, but its eggs have 
been taken from Saginaw Bay northward; at Mackinac Island and Round 
Island (8. E. White); near Cross Village, Emmet county and on Beaver 
Islands (Chas. L. Cass), and near Van’s Harbor, Delta county (Van Winkle). 
At Grand Island, Munising Bay, Lake Superior, Mr. E. A. Doolittle saw 
a female and seven young but a few days out of the shell, July 6, 1906, 
and a few days later a combined flock of three broods. 
The nests are made of moss, grass and weed stalks, usually heavily 
lined with down. The eggs are ten or more, cream-colored, and average 
2.57 by 1.59 inches. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Nostrils near base of bill. Adult male: The whole head and throat dull greenish black, 
the color strongest on top of the head, duller on the throat; a white collar below the black, 
below which there is a broad cinnamon-brown band interrupted by black streaks extending 
over the upper breast and lower neck. Rest of under parts white, the sides and flanks 
barred with narrow wavy lines of black; the tips of most of the secondaries and the greater 
coverts white. Rest of upper parts black, more or less barred with white on the rump. 
Adult female: No black on the head, which is mostly reddish-brown, darker on top and 
with the chin and upper throat much paler or even pure white; the under parts from lower 
neck to tail white, the sides washed or barred with ashy-gray; the upper parts darker ashy- 
gray; the wings darker and the primaries nearly black; speculum white. The young when 
fully grown resemble the female but are duller. ; ; 
Length of adult 20 to 25 inches; wing, 84 to 9 inches; culmen about 2.50; bill from nostril 
to tip, about 1.75. In any plumage this species can be separated from the Goosander 
by the position of the nostril, which in the present species is much nearer the base of the 
bill than in the Goosander. 
