190 BIBDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Hab, Korthern portions of northern hemisphere; in America mierating south, in 

 winter, throughout theUnited States. 



Sf. Chab. Adult male: Head dull greenish blacic, duller and more brownish on the 

 forehead and throat, the crest faintly glossed with purplish; neck and sides of the chest 

 pale fawn-color or dull buft indi-stinotiy streaked with black, the streaks being on the 

 edges of ihe feathers ; a white collar>round the upper part of the neck, just below the black 

 Lower parts pure creamy white, the sides and flanks undulated with narrow zigzag bars' 

 of black. Back and scapulars uniform black; shoulders overhung by a tuft of broad feath- 

 . ers, broadly margined with black, the central space being white. Anterior and outermost 

 lesser wing-coverts dark slate-gray, darker centrally; posterior lesser coverts and mid- 

 ■ die coverts wholly white ; greater coverts with the terminal half white, th'^ basal half black, 

 partly exposed, thus forming a narrow band or bar across the wing; two innermost tertials 

 wholly black, the rest white, edged with black ; innermost secondaries entirely white; outer 

 secondaries, primary-coverts, and primaries black. Bump and upper tail-coverts dark 

 ash-gray with black shafts, centrally, finely mottled laterally with white-and-blaok zigzags. 

 Tail slate-gray, with black shafts. Bill deep carmine, the culmen black, the nail yellowish; 

 iiUs carmine; feet bright red.* Adult female: Head and neck cipnamon-brown, duller or 

 more grayish on the pileum and nape, the crest shorter than in the male; .throat and lower 

 parts white, the sides and flanks ash-gray. Upper parts dark ash-gray, the feathers with 

 daike shafts; exposed portion of greater coverts and secondaries white, the base of the 

 latter black, but seldom showing as a narrow bar; primaries bla -k. Bill, eyes, and feet as 

 in the ma\f, bnt less intense iu color. Toung: Similar to the adult female, but chin and 

 throat pale reddish, instead of pure white, tne lo-verpartof the neck and chest, brown- 

 ish white, with the feathers mouse-gray beneath the surface: black at base of the second- 

 arie- exposed, forming a narrow bar between two white areas. Downy young: Above, 

 hair-brown, the posterior border of each wing, and a large spot on each side of the rump, 

 yellbwish while; lower parts including thi malar region, yellowish white; side of head 

 and neck reddish cinnamon, paler on the lores, which are bordered above by a dusky 

 stripe running baokwai d to the anterior angle of the eye, and below by a dark brown, rather 

 indistinct, riital stripe; lower eyelid white. . 



Total length, about 2u.(iO to 25.00 inches : extent, 32.00 to Ss.OO ; wing, 8.60-9.00 ; culmen, 2.50; 

 tarsus, 1.80-1.90; middle toe, 2.10. 



The Ked-breasted Merganser (sadly mis-named, since the 

 breast does not even approach red in color), is a winter resi- 

 dent throughout Illinois and breeds from the northern portion 

 of the State northward. Its habits are so like those of the 

 buff-breasted species {M. aihertccmus) as to require no special 

 description here. 



Genus LOPfiODYTES Reichenbach. 



■Lophodytea Eeichenb. Syst. Av. 1852, p. ix. Type,«Jfer(7us cucuHaiua Link. 



-Gbn. Chae. Bill shorter than the head, black; serrations compressed, low, short, 

 in'-erted obliquely on the edge of the, bill. Tall more than half as long as the wings. 

 Tarsus about two thirds as long as the longest toe (with claw). Head with a full, semi- 

 eiroular, compressed crest of hair-like feathers. 



• Two adulr males received at the National Museum from Wood's HoU. Mass., April 14, 

 1886, had the soft pans colored as follows: Lower mandible and feet rich scarlet-lake, the 

 webs of the latter brownish, becoming neai ly black on the median portion; ui per mandible 

 blackish brown, becoming dull red along edges. Total length, before skinning, 23.60 and 

 a inches respectively. 



