252 KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 
ORDER ANSERES. 
LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS. 
Famity ANATIDE. Ducks, GEESE, AND SWANS. 
SupraMity MERGIN/E. MERGANSERS. 
Fish-eating ducks having narrow bills with tooth-like serrations on edges. 
Genus MERGANSER Brisson. 
Merganser americanus (male). Merganser americanus (female). 
MERGANSER AMERICANUS (Cass.). 
American Merganser, 
Adult male. Bill red, long and narrow, with tooth-like serrations; head and neck greenish 
black; under parts creamy white tinged with salmon color ; tail gray; feet red. 
Length, 26.50; Wing, 11; Tarsus, 2; Bill, 2.10. 
Adult female: Upper throat white; breast and head rufous brown; belly white ; speculum 
white; feet orange. 
Length, 24.50; Wing, 9.75; Tarsus, 1.90; Bill, 2. 
The distance from the nostril to the tip of the bill is less than 1.50 inches in this species, and 
the female may be distinguished from the next species, viz., Red-breasted Merganser, by this 
