396 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



natural predilection greater than even that of the Goosander, Mergus 

 Merganser. It breeds in many parts of our Middle and Eastern States, and 

 on two occasions I have found the female in charge of her brood in the lower 

 parts of Kentucky. In the States of New York, Massachusetts and Maine 

 it is by no means a rare occurrence to meet with the nest of this bird along 

 the borders of small secluded lakes. It is as common at this season in the 

 British provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and it is still more 

 plentiful on the islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, as well as on the streams 

 of Newfoundland and Labrador. 



The Red-breasted Merganser is best known throughout the United States 

 by the name of "Shell-drake." It is, like all the species of its tribe, a most 

 expert diver, and on being fired at with a flint-locked gun generally escapes 

 by disappearing before the shot reaches the place where it has been. Its 

 flight is similar to that of the Goosander, being strong, rapid, and remarkably 

 well sustained when it is travelling to a considerable distance. Gluttonous 

 in the extreme, it frequently gorges itself so as to be unable to rise. I have 

 several times seen one of them obliged to eject a great part of the contents 

 of its stomach and gullet before it could fly off, and some which I have kept 

 a day or two in confinement have died in consequence of swallowing too 

 many fishes. 



The "Shell-drake," according to the latitude of the place which it has 

 selected, and the degree of forwardness of the season, begins to form its nest 

 from the first of March until the middle of May. Some nests which I 

 examined in Labrador had not their full complement of eggs until about the 

 20th of June. In that country, as well as in several parts of the United 

 States, where I have found the nests, they were placed within a very short 

 distance of the margins of fresh-water ponds, among rank grasses and sedges, 

 or beneath the low bushes. The nest bears a great resemblance to that of 

 the Eider Duck, but is a good deal smaller, and better fashioned. It is made 

 of dry weeds and mosses of various kinds, and is warmly lined with down 

 from the breast of the female bird, for the male leaves her as soon as she has 

 completed the laying of the eggs, the number of which I have never found 

 to exceed ten, they being more frequently six or eight. It is a very 

 remarkable fact that the eggs in this family of birds are usually even in 

 number, whereas in most land birds they are odd. The eggs of the Red- 

 breasted Merganser measure two and a half inches in length, an inch and 

 five-eighths in breadth, resemble in form those of the domestic fowl, and are 

 of a uniform plain dull yellowish cream-colour. 



When one approaches the nest, the female usually slides or runs off a few 

 paces, and then takes to wing. I have never observed the paths to the nests 

 which some authors have described, and cannot well imagine why there 



