SED-BBEASTED MERGANSER 85 



evidence on side near bend of wing, and rump and sides showing traces of 

 fine irregular barring. Natal plumage: Top of head clove brown; a white stripe 

 below eye to base of bill; beneath this a cinnamon stripe from angle of mouth 

 to side of neck, where it broadens; chin, throat and breast, white; upper sur- 

 face clove brown relieved by four white spots, one at hind border of each wing, 

 and one on each side of rump. Downy young of the American and Red-breasted 

 Mergansers are indistinguishable save for the. position of the nostril. 



Makes for field identification — Smaller than American Merganser (for 

 general characters of mergansers see that species). Male: Eeddish brown 

 band across breast, and two black bars across speculum. Female: Cinnamon 

 brown of neck not abruptly ended and back brown-tinged rather than blue- 

 gray. Both sexes have head crest of two points, one behind the other, and nostril 

 nearer base of bill than middle (see figs. 5 to 8). 



Voice — Of female with young: A low, distinct, but husky hha-lcha-Tcha 

 (Nelson, 1887, p. 67). 



Nest — On marshy land in the vicinity of salt water, usually under the 

 shelter of a rock, bank, or branch of a tree. A simple structure of leaves and 

 grasses, lined with down from the breast of the female parent. 



Eggs — 6 to 12, ovate in shape, measuring in inches 2.45 to 2.65 by 1.70 to 1.85 

 (in millimeters, 62.2 to 67.2 by 43.2 to 47.0) ; color cream, buff, or greenish buff 

 (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, II, pp. 118-120; and authors). 



Gbneeal distribution — Northern portion of Northern Hemisphere. In North 

 America breeds from Arctic coast of Alaska, northern Mackenzie, Cumberland 

 Sound, and Greenland (lat. 73° N.), south to southern British Columbia, and 

 extreme northern United States; winters from southern British Columbia and 

 northern United States, south to southern Lower California, Louisiana and 

 Florida, and also in Greenland and the Commander Islands (modified from A. 

 O. U. Check-list, 1910, p. 67). 



Distribution in California — ^Common winter visitant along the entire sea- 

 coast, occurring both on the open ocean about rocky headlands and islands, and 

 on bays and salt lagoons; less numerous interiorly where it occurs at times on 

 the larger bodies of water, as on Lake Tahoe and Owens Lake. 



In California the Red-breasted Merganser is a bettei* known ' ' fish- 

 duck" than its larger relative, the American Merganser, for it is 

 found plentifully on hunting grounds adjacent to the sea coast and 

 occasionally on the larger bodies of water in the interior. To the 

 north, in southern Alaska, the species is very abundant. At the base 

 of the Alaska Peninsula, Osgood (1904, p. 55) states that this mer- 

 ganser is outnumbered among water birds only by the larger gulls. 

 In California the bird associates in flocks of from a dozen to a hundred 

 individuals. 



At Monterey the first autumnal appearance of the species in 1896 

 was on October 9 (Cooke, 1906, p. 21) ; from about that time on, it is 

 common on the larger bays and lagoons and about rocky headlands 

 on the ocean shore. In 1911 birds of this species were present at 

 Monterey until April 10 (Mus. Vert. Zool), and at other points along 

 the coast individuals have been seen in May. At Saint Michaels, 

 Alaska, the species arrives about the middle of May and leaves by 



