﻿RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 181 



pairs produce their young in company with ducks of divers 

 kinds. The nest itself is composed of dried flags, stalks, 

 and grasses, which are carelessly put together. The different 

 places chosen for its construction are infinitely numerous, — 

 sometimes it is placed on the bare ground, in a hollow, or in a 

 bush : among loose stones, or in a hole in a rock : in a recess 

 of many feet deep, and at other times in the cavity of a hollow 

 tree ; or in the very top of a tall tree, and even in the old nest 

 of a bird of prey ; it is a difficult matter to name a place 

 where to go and look for the nest and eggs of the Red-breasted 

 Merganser, and equally so to enumerate any spot where it 

 may not be found. 



In the month of June the female deposits her eggs, which 

 are ten or twelve in number, and in size, shape, and colour, 

 as represented in our plate. If they are properly taken, 

 the number produced exceeds two dozen. The young are 

 treated by the parent bird like those of the Goosander ; 

 and, if required, she carefully carries one after another to the 

 ground near the water. 



The male bird does not trouble himself about the family, 

 and only rejoins it in the winter : this accounts for the 

 fact that the females and young are found in one place, and 

 the old males in another. 



The adult male measures twenty-two inches in length ; the 

 wing, from the carpus to the tip, ten inches. 



The plumage of the adult male is as follows : the head and 

 upper part of the neck are black, with green reflections ; the 

 next colour of the neck is white ; its basal part and the 

 upper part of the breast are ferruginous brown, spotted with 

 dusky, in consequence of the dark centres of the feathers ; 

 the rest of the under parts are white ; the flanks finely marked 

 with grey pencilling ; the upper part of the back and tertials 

 are black; the scapulars, wing-coverts, and secondaries, white, 



