CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. JI 



Oeder ANSERES. Lamellihosteal Swimmers. 

 Family XIV. ANA.TIDJS. Ducks, Geese and Swans. 

 XLIII. MERGANSER Brisson. 1760. 

 129. American Merganser. Goosander. 



Merganser americanus (Cass.) Stejn. 1885. 



This species breeds in New Brunswick (Cfew^^^-tew), in New- 

 foundland (Reeks), in Labrador (Low), Prince Edward Island 

 and Sable Island (Macoun), and is a common summer resident in 

 Quebec and Ontario. 



Breeds in the northern part of Manitoba and northwesterly 

 to the Barren Grounds. (Mac/arlane.) Nelson and Turner report 

 it as only a visitor in Alaska, but both Brooks and Fannin report 

 it breeding in British Columbia and wintering abundantly on 

 Okanagan Lake. Found breeding at Canmore and Banff, Rocky 

 Mountains, May, 1891, and at Jasper Lake, Alberta, in 1898. 



Breeding Notes. — Mr. A. P. Low found it breeding on the 

 shores of small lakes in Labrador ; eggs were taken with the bird 

 from under small spruces on the upper part of the Hamilton 

 River, in the summer of 1896. 



Fairly common in Alberta, downy young killed June 24th, 1896, 

 at the forks of Blindman River and the Red Deer. (Dippie.) 



This is a summer resident at Norway Lake, Renfrew Co., Ont.; 

 although I never obtained the nest. I have seen the bird, how- 

 ever, fly into a cavity in a pine tree about forty feet from the 

 ground. I have learned that a pair bred every year in the bole 

 of a decayed pine tree on an island in Bolis Lake, Frontenac Co., 

 Ont. I have reason to believe that this species prefers in Ontario 

 inland lakes bordered by woods and not large expanses of open 

 water. {Rev. C.J. Young.) 



museum specimens. 



One taken by Mr. S. Herring in Toronto marsh and another in 

 the harbour of Victoria, B. C, by Mr. W. Spreadborough. 



Mr. A P. Low took a nest of this species from under low- 

 spreading spruce trees on the Upper Hamilton River, Labrador, 

 in June, 1894. The eggs are in the Museum. 



