KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 213 
character, as the Red-breasted Merganser has a distance from the nostril to the tip of the bill of 
more than 1.50 inches. 
This species ranges throughout North America and is not uncommon on 
the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia. Occasionally a specimen 
wanders as far south as Florida, although it is not common in that State. 
I have on one occasion killed a specimen near the head of Indian River. 
The nest is composed of a little grass or leaves on a ledge or occasionally 
in a hole in a tree. 
The eggs are from seven to ten, of a pale yellow buff color. 
Merganser serrator (male.) 
MERGANSER SERRATOR (Linz.). 
Red-breasted Merganser. 
adult male: WHead and throat black tinged with greenish; a white ring around the neck 
not always well marked; breast rufous streaked with black; lower breast and belly white; 
the sides and rump delicately pencilled with black. Distance from nostril to tip of bill more 
than 1.50. 
Length, 23; Wing, 9; Tarsus, 1.90: Bill, 2.30. 
Female and young male: Head brownish; throat pale buff; back gray: under parts of the 
body are white and speculum is white. 
Length, 21; Wing, 8.80; Tarsus, 1.90; Bill, 2.50. 
Inhabits the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, ranging in winter 
southward throughout the United States to Cuba. It is a common bird on 
