354 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Dad^S (Anseres). 



I commence my descriptive list with the ducks, because the species is by far 

 the most numerous of any of the water fowl that frequent this locality. 



Of the forty-nine species of the duck family {Anatidae), twenty-seven are 

 found in this locality. By locality I mean the St. Lawrence River region. Some 

 of them breed here, while others remain until very late in the season. Again, 

 some species are numerous, while of others only an occasional specimen is 

 obtainable. 



Mergansers (Merginai). 



Three species of the Merganser family are found here. The American merganser 

 [Merganser aviericanus) is common, during the season, to all parts of the river 

 and lake. 



The mergansers are called ducks in common parlance, though in fact they do 

 not seem to belong to the true ducks, only in some particulars; in others, they 

 differ materially. This part of the subject, however, I leave to the scientist. 

 As game birds they will have to be included, I suppose, among others of the 

 inferior class, though I suppose that if nothing better is in sight the average gunner 

 will not let the chance to bag one pass by. They are voracious devourers of fish. 

 Mr. Allan Brooks, in the March number of Recreation, avers that a "Sawbill" can 

 "digest five pounds of fish daily." This being admitted, it is easy to conclude 

 that the merganser does not rank high as a table delicacy. In fact, as I have 

 had occasion to remark of another bird, it would scarcely be accounted a sin to 

 eat one on a Friday because of the difficulty in distinguishing whether fish 

 or flesh predominated. 



The mergansers are all birds of beautiful plumage, the American merganser 

 being superior in that respect to any of the others. They are all tree breeders, 

 and to some extent they all breed at some point within the St. Lawrence River 

 region. In fact, the American merganser is essentially an inland dweller, though 

 not so numerous here. It is an early breeder; the young ones are very precocious, 

 being able to take small fish before they (the birds, not the fish) are fairly 

 feathered out. 



Sheldrake and sawbill are names often used locally for all the mergansers 

 indiscriminately, though when applied to the hooded merganser the name is 

 usually qualified by ''little"; as litttle sawbill, little spikebill, etc. The American 

 merganser is described as follows: "Head and crest black, reflecting green; upper 

 parts black ; rump and tail coverts gray ; wing white with black bai ; under parts 

 salmon color; tail gray; bill and feet red." 



