72 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



130, Red-breasted Merganser. 



Merganser serrator (Linn.) Schaff. 1789. 



This species breeds in Greenland and across the whole of the 

 wooded region from Newfoundland to the Aleutian Islands. It 

 does not breed in the prairie region, but prefers the clear lakes 

 and streams of the north. Not very common in British Columbia, 

 but breeds in suitable places ; breeding at Deer Park and Pass 

 Creek, Columbia River, B.C., June, 189O. {Macoun.) Winters on 

 Okanagan Lake, B.C. {Brooks.) 



Breeding Notes. — Nests on rivers and lakes. Breeding at 

 Buffalo Lake, Alberta, also at Lake Manitoba, 1896. {Dippie.) 

 Breeds at Shoal Lake and Lake Manitoba. {Raine.) On an island 

 in the Yukon Delta, Dall found six nests of this bird. They were 

 all carefully concealed under dead leaves, and were generally 

 sheltered by a log of driftwood, in a small hollow, lined with 

 down from the parent's breast. They contained from six to ten 

 rich cream-coloured eggs. 



On the Alaskan coast they breed everywhere in suitable places 

 from Sitka north to Icy Cape, and perhaps to Point Barrow. The 

 first eggs are laid early in June, and the site for the nest, on the 

 marshes, is ordinarily the same as that chosen by other species of 

 ducks with the usual foresight as to concealment and proximity 

 to a pond. {Nelson.) 



This species used to breed frequently among the Thousand 

 Islands, River St. Lawrence. Only a few pairs now remain to do 

 so, the majority going east and north. In June, 1893, I saw a 

 flock of upwards of twenty about fourteen miles above Brock- 

 ville ; of course, all adults. In the following year, in the last week 

 in June, I saw a flock of about the same number at the " The 

 Ducks," Lake Ontario. I have met with the nest twice at the 

 east end of Lake Ontario, on islands, on the 27th June, 1896, 

 and on the 30th June the same year. On the first occasion I had 

 landed on a rocky island, and while passing some cedars a Mer- 

 ganser flew from underneath. I concluded there was a nest and 

 by searching soon found it, containing six eggs. This nest was 

 well hidden away among thick branches of cedar, and was found 

 in a depression of the rock, it was made of dried grass and well 

 lined with down of the bird. Incubation had commenced seven 

 or eight days. The other nest was in a somewhat similar posi- 



