SOODED MEBGANSEE 91 



with most other ducks: "At this season [June, in southeastern Mis- 

 souri] the beauty of the male's dress and coiffure is entirely gone; 

 both parents resemble each other so much that they are generally mis- 

 taken for female Wood Ducks, which are also very common breeders 

 in these swamps." 



Little is known of the life history of the Hooded Merganser on the 

 Pacific Coast. It is said to begin nesting in Washington in April 

 (Bowles, in Dawson, 1909, p. 763). The nests are located high in 

 hollow trees over or near water and are composed of weeds and 

 grasses, and lined with down. The eggs are variously reported as 

 numbering from 5 to 12 ; they are ivory white in color, and more 

 nearly globular in form than those of other ducks. The following 

 notes on the nesting habits of this bird are recorded by Spreadborough 

 {in Macoun and Macoun, 1909, p. 77) : "A pair has built in an elm 

 stub for four years, at about thirty feet from the ground, at the mouth 

 of Sharp Creek, Braeebridge, Ontario. The stub is on the bank of a 

 stream. The old bird carries her young from the tree to the water 

 in her bill. At first the young are rather helpless and are very easy 

 to catch, but in a few days they are well able to take care of them- 

 selves. " As is the case with the other mergansers, the male leaves 

 the duties of incubation and the rearing of the young entirely to the 

 female. Flocks of males are generally the first to be seen in the fall 

 migration. 



Hooded Mergansers are swift fliers and make less noise with their 

 wings than almost any other duck. Bowles (loc. cit.) says: "Its 

 flight is very swift and eccentric, resembling greatly that of the Green- 

 winged Teal, for which the bird is easily mistaken in the faint light 

 of early morning or evening." 



Instead of frequenting swiftly running streams as is the case with 

 the American Merganser, the Hooded prefers the quieter streams, 

 sloughs and small ponds. In such places it is said to feed upon tad- 

 poles, small flsh and water insects, even taking some vegetable food. 



The smaller size of the bill of this merganser, as well as its habitat, 

 would seem to indicate that it is not so destructive of valuable fish as 

 the other two mergansers. Its diet also makes it more palatable, and 

 in the middle west wherever it is plentiful, it is used for food. 



All the evidence at hand points to a great reduction in the numbers 

 of this species during recent years. Henshaw (1876, p. 275) says 

 that at the time of his travels through California in the early seventies 

 the Hooded Merganser occurred "in fall in large numbers as a 

 migrant. ' ' No recent observer has offered a like statement. In former 

 years (1870-1885) this merganser was occasionally seen along the 

 creeks of Marin County and along Mark West Creek, Sonoma County, 

 but it has long since been shot out of this region (J. and J. W. Mail- 

 liard, MS). 



