34 Birds of Colorado 
and concealed by a log or in a rocky crevice. The eggs 
are drab with a tinge of olive. 
Genus LOPHODYTES. 
Bill shorter than the head, chiefly black ; bill-serrations low, oblique, 
not hooked ; tarsus about half as long as the middle toe; crest very 
highly developed, erect, compressed, and semicircular. 
One species only. 
Hooded Merganser. Lophodytes cucullatus. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 131—Colorado Records—Beckham 85, p. 144; 
Morrison 89, p. 148; Cooke 97, pp. 53, 194; 06 p. 21; Henderson 03, 
p. 234; 09, p. 225. 
Description. Male—Head, neck and upper-parts black, becoming 
browner on the lower back ; a large compressed, semicircular, erectile 
crest with the central portion white ; below, from the fore-neck white ; 
sides finely waved with dusky and cinnamon; wing with a white 
speculum and two black bars; iris yellow, bill black, feet dusky. 
Length 18; wing 7°75; tail 4-0; culmen 1°60; tarsus 1°20. 
The female is smaller—wing 7:°25—and has a smaller crest; it is 
greyish-brown above, browner on the crown; the under-parts whitish 
with the sides dusky brown, not undulated ; wing with less white, the 
speculum crossed by only one bar. Young birds are like the female, 
but the crest is absent or much smaller. 
Distribution.—Throughout the greater part of North America from 
British Columbia and Hudson Bay to Mexico and Cuba; breeding 
locally throughout most of its range, in the United States and 
northwards. 
In Colorado the Hooded Merganser is said to be not uncommon 
though it has received but little notice. Cooke states that a few 
birds winter, a few breed in the mountains, and rather more pass 
through on migration. There is no definite statement of its nesting 
in the State, though Thorne found it at Fort Lyon on June 20th and 
July 2nd, and Carter near Canon City on June Ist. The only other 
definite records are—Barr Lake, not uncommon in winter (Hersey 
& Rockwell), Pueblo (Beckham) and Boulder co. (Henderson). 
Habits.—This Merganser is seldom seen on sea-water, 
and prefers swamps and quiet lakes to running water ; 
it feeds on roots and weeds as well as on fishes and 
aquatic insects. 
