RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 3 
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. (Mergus serrator.) 
PLATE LXIX.—Fic. 2. 
L’Harle Huppé, Briss. vi. p. 237, 2, pl. 23.—Buff. viii. p. 273.—Pl. enl. 207.— 
Bewick, ii. p. 235.—Hdw. pl. 95.—Lath. Syn. iil. p. 432.—Peale’s Museum, 
No. 2936. 
MERGUS SERRATOR.—LINNEUS.* 
Mergus serrator, Linn. Syst. i. 208.—Bonap. Synop. p. 397.—L’Harle Huppé, 
Temm. Man. ii. p. 884.—Red-breasted Merganser, Mont. Ornith. Dict. ii. 
and Supp.—Llem. Brit. Anim. p. 129.—Selby, Illust. Br. Ornith. pl. 58. 
T'HIs is much more common in our fresh waters than either 
of the preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia 
market from the shores of the Delaware. It is an inhabitant 
of both continents. In the United States it is generally 
migratory, though a few are occasionally seen in autumn, 
but none of their nests have as yet come under my notice. 
They also frequent the sea-shore, keeping within the bays 
and estuaries of rivers. ‘They swim low in the water, and, 
when wounded in the wing, very dexterously contrive to elude 
the sportsman or his dog by diving and coming up at a great 
distance, raising the bill only above water, and dipping 
down again with the greatest silence. The young males of 
* This beautiful species is also a native of both continents, and has 
similar manners with its congeners. In this country, during winter they 
frequent the sea, but even in severe weather do not so frequently ascend 
the rivers. They breed throughout the whole of the north of Scotland, 
by the edges or on the small islets of fresh-water lakes, both sexes 
being seen in company only so long as the female continues to lay. 
The nest is placed in some thicket of brushwood or rank herbage, and 
is composed of the same materials which Wilson has mentioned.= The 
eggs are arich yellowish fawn colour. Both Wilson and some of our 
British writers mention them as white, or bluish white. When they 
have been sat upon for some time and approach to maturity, they receive 
the latter tint from the transparency of the shell. 
The female sits very close, and will allow an intruder to approach 
within the distance of a yard. All the nests which I have seen had two 
runs in opposite directions, leading out of the cover, and when disturbed, 
she followed one of these for a few yards before taking flight.—Eb, 
