The American Merganser 



color of back, and faintly tinged with salmon. Bill red with dusky ridge; feet chrome- 

 yellow or orange, with dusky webs; eyes yellow. Length: 635-685.8 (25.00-27.00); 

 wing 273.1 (10.75); ta 'l IQ 8 (4-25); bill 54.6 (2.15); bill from nostril 38.1 (1.50); tarsus 

 48.3 (1.90). Female averaging three or four inches shorter and proportioned 

 accordingly. 



Recognition Marks. — Mallard to Brant size; long, narrow bill with prominent 

 serrations on side; underparts white or pale salmon-tinted; no rusty or ochraceous on 

 breast; nostril just within basal half of bill. Lovers of swift waters; river divers. 



Nesting. — Nest: Occasionally on the ground, near stream; more commonly in 

 hole of tree or stub; lined with moss, grasses, and feathers. Eggs: 6 to 16; dull creamy 

 white or pale grayish yellow. Av. size 67.3 x 45.7 (2.65 x 1.80). Season: c. May 

 1st; one brood. 



Range of Mergus merganser. — Holarctic, i. e., the northern portion of Northern 

 Hemisphere, south in winter to the Mediterranean, Burma, Japan, and northern Mexico. 



Range of M. m. americanus. — Breeds from Alaska, the Great Slave Lake region, 

 southern Ungava, and Newfoundland south to the northern tier of states, and in the 

 mountains to California, New Mexico and (formerly at least) Pennsylvania. Winters 

 from the Aleutians, British Columbia, Colorado, and southern Ontario, south to the 

 Gulf States, northern Mexico, and Lower California. 



Distribution in California. — Fairly common winter resident on open streams, 

 both interiorly and coastwise. Less common on salt water than M. serrator. Breeds 

 sparingly near lakes and streams in the Sierra Nevada, at least as far south as Tulare 

 County, and in the Humboldt Bay region. 



Authorities. — Cooper (Mergus americanus), Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., vol. iv., 

 1870, p. 70; Cooke, U. S. Dept. Agric, Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 26, 1906, p. 19 (distr. and 

 migr.) — which also consult for all remaining members of this group; Law, Condor, vol. 

 xiv., 1912, p. 41 (brood of young described; Lake Tahoe) ; Willett, Pac. Coast Avi- 

 fauna, no. 7, 1912, p. 22 (occurrence in s. Calif.); Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, Game 

 Birds Calif., 1918, p. 79 (desc, habits, occurrence, etc.) — which also consult for all 

 Ducks and Geese. 



THE FIRST glimpse of this splendid bird ever vouchsafed the writer 

 was upon the rock-bound shore of that emerald gem of mountain lakes, 

 Chelan. The bird had been surprised at the water's edge, and winged 

 as he attempted to rise. With instant decision he took to the water and 

 dived sharply. When some twenty feet deep, he turned and paralleled 

 the shore, intending to make a landing at some distance and secrete him- 

 self among the rocks. It was a rare sight from my vantage point, some 

 forty feet above, to watch the duck cleaving the water with strong con- 

 certed strokes of his vermilion feet. In that limpid water the resplen- 

 dent black of his head and the salmon-tinted sides shone almost as if there 

 was nothing between us. I am almost sorry to add that his ruse was not 

 successful, and that his skin now rests in an eastern museum. 



Not only are these Mergansers expert divers, but the sharp "teeth," 

 inclining backward as they do, are calculated to hold the most slippery 

 prey. Fish caught in fair pursuit form the bulk of their food, but frogs, 

 water-insects, crayfish, and other crustaceans vary the monotony. Since 



1744 



