588 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.—MERGUS SERRATOR. — 
Fic. 281. 
LHarle huppé, Briss. vi. p. 237, 2, pl. 23.— Buff. viii, p. 273. Pl. enl. 207.— 
Bewick, it. p. 235. — Edw. pl. 95.— Lath. Syn. iu. p. 482. — Peale’s Museum, 
No. 2936. 
MERGUS SERRATOR. — Linnxus.* 
Mergus serrator. Linn. Syst. i. 208. — Bonap. Synop. p. 397.— L’Harle huppeé, 
mm. Man. ii. p. 884. — Red-breasted Merganser, Mont. Ornith. Dict. ii. and 
Supp. Flemm. B it. Anim. p. 129. — Selby, Illust. Br. Ornith pl. 58. 
Tus is much more common in our fresh waters than either of the 
preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia market from 
the shores of the Delaware. It is an inhabitant of both continents. 
In the United States it is generally migratory ; though a few are occa- 
sionally seen in autumn, but none of their nests have as yet come 
under my notice. They also frequent the sea-shore, keeping within 
the bays and estuaries of rivers. They swim low in the water, and, 
when wounded in the wing, very dexterously contrive to elude the 
sportsinan or his dog, by diving and coming up at a great distance, 
raising the bill only above water, and dipping down again with the 
greatest silence. The young males of a year old are often found in 
the plumage of the female ; their food consists of small fry, and various 
kinds of shell fish. 
The Red-breasted Merganser is said, by Pennant, to breed on Loch 
Mari, in the county of Ross, in North Britain, and also in the Isle of 
Islay. Latham informs us, that it inhabits most parts of the north of 
Europe on the continent, and as high as Iceland; also in the Russian 
dominions about the great rivers of Siberia, and the Lake Baikal. Is 
said to be frequent in Greenland, where it breeds on the shores. The 
inhabitants often take it by darts thrown at it, especially in August, 
being then in moult. At Hudson’s Bay, according to Hutchins, they 
come m pairs about the beginning of June, as soon as the ice breaks 
up, and build soon after their arrival, chiefly on dry spots of ground 
in the islands; lay from eight to thirteen white eggs, the size of those 
of a Duck; the nest is made of withered grass, and lined with the 
* This beautiful specics is also a native of both continents, and has similar man- 
ners with its congeners. In this country during winter they frequent the sea, but: 
even in severe weather do not so fecuenily ascend the rivers. They breed through- 
out the whole of the north of Scotland, by the edges, or on the small islets of fresh- 
water lakes, both sexes being seen in company oie so long as the female ec. ntinues 
to lay. ‘The nest is placed in some thicket of brushwood or rank herbage, and is 
composed of the same materials which Wilson has mentioned. The eggs are a 
ricn yellowish fawn color. Both Wilson and some of our British writers mention 
them as white, or bluish white. When they have been sat upon for some time, and 
ap iean to maturity, they receive the latter tint from the transparency of the 
shell. 
The female sits very close, and will allow an intruder to approach within the dis- 
tance of a yard. All the nests which Ihave seen had two runs in opposite direc- 
tions, leading out of the cover, and when disturbed, she followed one of these for a 
few yards before taking flight. — Ep. 
