HOODED MEBGANSEE 89 



Hooded Merganser 



Lophodytes cucullatus (Linnaeus) 



Othek names — Hooded Sheldrake; Oyster Duck (Napa County); Mergus 

 cucullatus. 



Description — Adult male: Head and neck chiefly black; conspicuous, vertical, 

 compressed crest of hair -like feathers; this crest chiefly white but set in black, 

 giving the effect of a black-bordered -white fan; feathers around base of bill 

 dark brown blended into black of rest of head; bill short, black, with nostrils 

 near base, and with "teeth" short, obliquely set, and not claw-like; iris yellow; 

 fore back, black, continuously so with hind neck; lower back, rump and tail dark 

 brown; forepart of closed wing dark grayish brown and gray; speculum white, 

 margined in front by black bar, and crossed centrally by a similar bar; primary 

 flight feathers dark brown; secondary flight feathers black, each with a sharply 

 defined central white stripe; sides and flanks cinnamon brown flnely barred 

 with black; breast and under surface white; sides in front of wing with two 

 black half -crescents originating from the black of the back and extending 

 diagonally downwards and forwards; legs and feet " yellowish -brown, " webs 

 "dusky" (Audubon, 1843, VI, p. 406). Total length (both sexes) "17.25-19.25" 

 inches (438 to 489 mm.) (Ridgway, 1900, p. 89). Male: folded wing 7.80 (198); 

 bill along culmen 1.54 (39.1); tarsus 1.24 (31.5) (one specimen from California). 

 Adult female: Head, neck, chest and whole upper surface grayish brown; throat 

 paling to whitish on chin; top of head clove brown shading to reddish hair brown 

 on crest ; crest of looser texture than in male and less conspicuous ; bill black with 

 base of lower mandible orange; iris hazel; wings and tail dark brownish; 

 speculum white, with two bars of black as in male; lower surface white, with 

 sides, flanks and under tail coverts clouded with brown; legs and feet dusky. 

 Folded wing 6.85-7.40 inches (174-188 mm.) ; bill along culmen 1.48-1.64 (37.7- 

 41.6) ; tarsus 1.22-1.31 (31.0-33.2) (five specimens from California and British 

 Columbia). Juvenile plumage: Similar to that of adult female but with crest 

 poorly developed and under tail coverts more distinctly brown (Ridgway, 

 loc. cit.). Natal plumage: Top and sides of head brown, paling to cinnamon 

 color on cheeks; chin and throat white; upper mandible blackish, its tip and the 

 whole lower mandible yellow; upper surface of body dark brown; five pairs of 

 small spots on back, rump, and wings, white; band across foreneck, pinkish 

 brown; rest of under surface white. 



Marks for field identification — Small size (for a duck), slender short bill 

 (shorter than head), narrow, erect, black -bordered white-patched head crest 

 (in the male), and brown sides. Distinguished from other mergansers by much 

 smaller size, and from all other ducks by the size and shape of bill. 



Voice — "A hoarse croak" (Forbush, 1912, p. 68); "a variety of guttural, 

 chattering notes" (Bowles, in Dawson, 1909, p. 763). 



jjjjST — In hollows of trees high above ground and near or over water; built 

 of grasses and weeds and lined with down from the breast of the female. 



Eggs — 5 to 12, nearly globular in shape, measuring in inches, 2.05 to 2.15 by 

 1.70 to 1.75 (in millimeters, 52.0 to 54.6 by 43.2 to 44.5); in color pure ivory 

 white (Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, 1884, II, p. 124; and authors). 



General distribution — North America. Breeds on the north from central 

 British Columbia, Great Slave Lake, central Keewatin, central ITngava, and 

 Newfoundland, south to southern Oregon, northern New Mexico, southern 

 Louisiana, and central Florida; winters on the north from southern British 



