384 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



yellow (Millais) ; legs and feet (ad. g) bright vermilion, (ad. $) 

 duller, (juv.) yellow, webs and feet dusky-grey; iris (ad.) carmine. 



Characters and allied forms. — M. m. orientalis (Afghanistan, 

 Himalaya) is smaller ; M. m. americanus (N. America) has in ad. $, 

 black bases of white greater coverts exposed forming a wing-bar ; 

 9 and young have upper-parts darker. M. m. merganser is dis- 

 tinguished from other British Mergansers by its large size ; green 

 head without long crest, of adult male, uniform white under -parts 

 (in life salmon-pink) and in ad. $ and young birds bluish-grey 

 upper-parts distinguish it from M . serrator in all plumages. 



Field -characters. — Bottle-green crested head and tapering blood- 

 red bill, black back and white wings and breast identify male on 

 water, whilst on the wing the long fusiform body and pinkish 

 suffusion of under-parts are further guides. Female has reddish- 

 brown head and neck with graduated mane -like crest, grey back 

 and white under-parts. An expert diver and swims quickly on 

 surface, low in water, with its level back often awash and long neck 

 erect. Rises with difficulty, but when well on the wing flight is 

 very rapid. Call, a hoarse '"kar-r-r," and male utters a soft low 

 croaking note during courtship. 



Breeding-habits. — Haunts both wooded shores of rivers and lakes 

 and also treeless districts. Nest. — Often in hole of tree, but also at 

 times in hollow in peat or among rocks and has bred in nesting- 

 boxes. Down, large greyish-white, very like that of Sheld-Duck, but 

 feathers of latter characteristic (see Brit. Birds, n, Plates 1 and 2). 

 Eggs. — 7 to 13, but sometimes joint clutches of much larger dimen- 

 sions recorded ; smooth, creamy-white. Average of 125 eggs, 

 68.3x47.1. Max.: 74.5x47.5 and 70x49. Min. : 63x45 and 

 68x41 mm. Breeding -season. — From latter half April onward in 

 Scotland ; but later in Iceland and Scandinavia. Incubation. — By 

 female. Period about four weeks. Single brooded. 

 Food. — Almost entirely fish, including trout, young salmon, barbel, 

 roach, dace, perch, bleak, etc. Collett also records Murozna and 

 remains of frog, and Hartert caterpillars, cockchafers and burying 

 beetles. Although as a rule only small fish are taken a barbel 12 

 in. long has been found in gullet. 



Distribution. — British Isles. — Resident and winter -visitor (end 

 Sept -end Oct. to end March-early May). Breeds Sutherland, 

 Ross, Moray area, Tay area, and parts Argyll. Elsewhere winter- 

 visitor to estuaries and inland waters, but rare Orkneys and Shet- 

 lands ; very rare 0. Hebrides, and somewhat irregular and un- 

 common south England, Wales and Ireland. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — From Iceland and north Europe (south 

 to Switzerland and Germany) to Kamtschatka. In winter south to 

 Mediterranean and X. Africa, Japan and China. Replaced by allied 

 forms in N. America, and central Asia, the latter race wintering in 

 India. 



