308 MERGID^. 



lakes of Cashmere," Hume says, " they breed most abundantly, and 

 that boat-loads of their eggs are brought to market at Srinuggar/' 

 The White Bye affects chiefly jheels with thick cover, where they sport 

 about in the early morning, afternoon and at night, retiring during 

 the middle of the day. It is not sought for by sportsmen, being very 

 indififerent eating at the best of times. 



Family, MERGID^. 



Bill straight, much compressed, narrow, convex towards the tip ; 

 edges of the mandibles strongly toothed ; nostrils median, longitudinal ; 

 front toes well webbed, hind toe lobed ; tarsus short ; wings pointed ; 

 tail short, wedge-shaped ; head subcrested. 



Mergus, Lin. — Bill slender, tip hooked ; first and second quills 

 longest. 



Mergus serrator, Lin.; P. E. 201 ; Naum. Vogt. t. 325; Gould. 

 B. Bur. pi. 885 ; Sir. F. ix. 268 ; Hume, Game Birds iii. p. 305.— 

 The Red-bbeasted Meegansee. 



Adult Male. — The whole head, chin, throat and the neck all round, 

 for about one inch, black, glossed with metallic green on the sides 

 of the head and a bluer sheen elsewhere ; along the middle of the 

 crown and occiput runs a comparatively narrow line of excessively 

 narrow, more or less disintegrated- webbed, elongate feathers, of which 

 the longest are over three inches in length, forming a conspicuous 

 crest; the rest of the neck all round, to just the base, pure white, 

 with a conspicuous narrow black line down the centre of its hinder 

 aspect ; at the base of the neck a light brownish rufous, or pale 

 brownish chestnut band, extends all round, narrower behind and broad- 

 ening into a crop patch. This band is streaked longitudinally with 

 blackish brown. The interscapulary region and upper back, the extreme 

 sides of the breast and scapulars velvet black ; outside the scapulars and 

 between these and the wing there is a conspicuous patch of long white 

 feathers; the primaries and their coverts (which latter are darkest) the 

 shoulder of the wing and lesser coverts just above the carpus blackish 

 brown, the rest of the lesser and median coverts pure white ; the secon- 

 dary greater coverts black, all, except the first three, very broadly tipped 

 with white, but leaving a portion of their black bases visible below the 

 white median coverts, thus forming the first black bar across the white 

 of tlie wing ; the secondaries are black, all, except the first three, very 

 broadly tipped with white ; tertiaries white, conspicuously margined with 

 black, except the last three, which are black ; axillaries pure white; rest 

 of the lower parts white, with, in life, a beautiful salmon or buffy tinge 

 which disappears in the skin ; flanks white, vermiculated with 

 greyish black ; middle and lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 white, with very delicate and close vermiculations of dull black, produc- 

 ing a grey effect ; tail dull brown ; lower wing-coverts white. 



The Female has the entire crown, occiput and crest brown with 

 more or less of a dull rufous or chestnut tinge, and rather ashy 

 towards the forehead ; sides of the head and neck all round pale dull 



