246 ORNAMENTAL WATERFOWL. 
summer moult, assuming for the time the female plumage, as is 
the case with the common mallard. 
Male.—Head and neck, with crest, glossy-green ; upper 
body black ; breast and under-parts yellowish-white, with a pink 
tinge; rump and tail grey; wings white, with brown and black 
markings; bill bright red; eye brownish-red ; legs and feet 
orange. 
Female.—Head, chest, and upper neck reddish-brown ; 
throat white; breast yellowish-grey ; lower body ashy-white ; 
abdomen yellowish ; bill purplisi-red, edged with black. 
Young.—In first feather, similar to female, attaining full 
plumage in the second year. 
Egg.—Creamy-white, or olive grey without spot; round 
at each end; ten to fourteen in number. April—May. 
Nest Down.—“ Uniform greyish-white” (Seebohm). 
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
(Merganser servator.) 
This bird is not uncommonly met with in Great 
Britain, most frequently in the northern districts. The 
name Red-breasted Merganser is somewhat misleading, and 
it would be better described as Red-necked. It comes 
southward during the winter, and is found not only on inland 
streams and lakes, but on the sea-coast, where the young birds 
are popularly called dun-divers, a name which popularly belongs 
to the Pochard. They generally arrive in small flocks of from 
five to eight. Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey records having seen in 
the winter of 1878 five to six hundred of these birds together in 
Cork harbour. The young males closely resemble the females 
