Todd : Birds of Erie and Presque Isle. 511 



this species, although it is well into October before the mergansers are 

 expected. Taking all these facts into consideration, I think they breed 

 here occasionally." See, in this connection, Dr. F. W. Langdon's 

 note on this species {Journal Cincinnati Society of Natural History, 

 III., 1880, 229), in which he mentions that it has been identified in 

 summer at Sandusky Bay, Ohio, by Mr. J. B. Porter. 

 19. Lophodytes cucullatus. Hooded Merganser. 



This handsome species is fairly numerous as a transient in spring and 

 fall, preferring the ponds of the Peninsula to the waters of the bay, 

 and is often seen in small pools on the mainland during the spring 

 movement. While fairly common, it is never found in such numbers 

 as the preceding species. The dates of its first appearance in the 

 spring are given by Mr. Bacon as April 7, 1899, and March 25, 1901. 

 In 1900 it was first noted on April 2, when a male bird was picked up 

 dead on the north shore of Erie Bay. Later in the month it was repeat- 

 edly recorded, but none were seen after May 2 until May 21, when a 

 belated migrant was observed. In the fall the first record was for No- 

 vember 7, and the last for November 18, although without much doubt 

 it actually remained later. While small flocks and single individuals 

 often came to decoys in the bay, such were as often observed in the 

 ponds, feeding in company with Coots and Pied-billed Grebes, whence 

 the name ' ' Pond Fisher ' ' given by the local gunners. Mr. Bacon 

 writes : "I have often seen them feeding in shallow pools, where they 

 could scarcely find anything in the line of fish, so that I am inclined 

 to think that they may feed on vegetable matter at times. They are 

 claimed by many to be good eating. I have found them both good 

 and bad. ' ' 

 I" Anas maxima." (Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, 1847,399.) Mallard-muscovy 



Hybrid. 



A specimen of this interesting bird, without doubt a hybrid between the Mallard 

 and the Muscovy (Cairina moschata), a tropical American species, which is common 

 in domestication, was taken on the Peninsula near the Life-saving Station on Novem- 

 ber 25, 1902. The bird was seen flying up and down the bay, and finally alighted on 

 the shore near several men, who captured it by striking it with a club as it started to 

 rise. It seemed to be exhausted. According to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway ( Water 

 Birds of North America, I., 1884, 494), "These hybrids are no doubt produced 

 in the barnyard ; but it is said that such birds do not inherit the tameness of their 

 progenitors, but revert to the original wildness of both species, and escape by flight. 

 Certain it is, that they are frequently shot by gunners along our coast." The 

 specimen in question, a male, is now in the Carnegie Museum, and may be thus 

 described : Head and neck black, with strong purple iridescence, washed with brown 



