HOODED MERGANSER. 587 
rivers, than ne'r the sea; tracing up creeks, and visiting mill ponds, 
diving perpetually for their food. In the creeks and rivers of the 
Southern States, they are very frequently seen during the winter. Like 
the Red-breasted, they are migratory, the manners, food, and places 
of resort of both being very much alike. 
The Hooded Merganser is eighteen inches in length, and two feet 
in extent; bill, blackish red, narrow, thickly toothed, and furnished 
with a projecting nail at the extremity; the head is ornamented with 
a large, circular crest, which the bird has the faculty of raising or de- 
pressing at pleasure; the fore part of this, as far as the eye, is black, 
thence to the hind head, white, and elegantly tipped with black; it is 
composed of two separate rows of feathers, radiating from each side 
of the head, and which may be easily divided by the hand; irides, 
golden; eye, very small; neck, black, which spreads to and over the 
back; part of the lesser wing-coverts, very pale ash, under which the 
greater coverts and secondaries form four alternate bars of black and 
white ; tertials, long, black, and streaked down the middle with white ; 
the black on the back curves handsomely round in two points on the 
breast, which, with the whole lower parts, are pure white ; sides, under 
the wings and flanks, reddish brown, beautifully crossed with parallel 
tines of black; tail, pointed, consisting of twenty feathers of a sooty 
crown; legs and feet, flesh-colored; claws, large and stout. The 
windpipe has a small labyrinth. 
The female is rather less, the crest smaller, and of a light rust or 
dull ferruginous color, entirely destitute of the white; the upper half 
of the neck, a dull drab, with semicircles of lighter; the white on the 
wings is the same as in the male, but the tertials are shorter and have 
less white; the back is blackish brown; the rest of the plumage cor- 
responds very nearly with the male. 
This species is peculiar to America ;* is said to arrive at Hudson’s 
Bay about the end of May ; builds close to the lakes ; the nest is com- 
posed of grass, lined with feathers from the breast; is said to lay six 
white eggs. The young are yellow, and fit to fly in July. + 
* The female, or a young male of this bird, has lately been killed in England, and 
is figured in the last part of Mr.Selby’s Illustrations. This, I believe, is the first 
instance of its occurrence in Europe. — Ep. 
¢ Horcutns, as quoted by Latham. 3 
