THE RED -BREASTED MERGANSER. 385 



MERGUS SERRATOR 



326. Mergus serrator L.— THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



Mergus Serrator Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 129 (1758 — Europe, 



Restricted typical locality : Sweden). 



Mergus serrator Linnseus, Yarrell, iv, p. 494 ; Saunders, p. 473. 



Description. — Adult male. Winter and summer. — Head and upper- 

 part of neck all round black, sides of face and neck glossed green ; 

 small whitish patch below eye ; blackish streak down centre of 

 nape ; rest of neck white ; mantle and inner scapulars black ; 

 sides of upper-mantle pink- cinnamon, feathers irregularly marked 

 or vermiculated black ; patch of feathers on either side of mantle 

 with large white centres outlined in black ; outer scapulars white 



The Red-breasted Merganser (Mergus serrator). Adult female. 



some marked or vermiculated black ; back and rump vermiculated 

 black and white ; upper tail-coverts olive -grey with sepia centres 

 and more or less spotted or vermiculated white ; fore -neck and 

 upper-breast pink-cinnamon broadly streaked and irregularly 

 spotted black, merging on sides of breast with black of upper-mantle; 

 sides of belly and flanks coarsely vermiculated black and white ; 

 remaining under-parts and axillaries white and under wing-coverts 

 mostly white ; under primary- coverts pale grey ; tail-feathers 

 ash-brown, sometimes faintly bordered or vermiculated white ; 

 primaries brown-black, lighter on inner webs ; outer secondaries 

 brown-black, paler on inner webs which are mostly marked white 

 towards tip, inner secondaries white with imperfectly concealed 

 black bases forming a wing-bar, innermost white with outer webs 

 narrowly edged black, those next scapulars and their coverts black- 

 brown ; outer greater coverts black-brown, lighter on inner webs, 

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

 median coverts white ; rest of wing-coverts black-brown. This 

 plumage is acquired by a moult of body-feathers and some inner- 

 most secondaries from Sept. to Jan. 



Adult male. Eclipse. — The body -feathers, apparently not back 

 but sometimes an odd feather, not lower-breast, belly, vent, or 

 under ta 1- coverts, are moulted first, followed by wings and tail 

 from May to Aug. Resembles adult female but distinguished at 

 once by white wing-coverts. Upper-parts as adult female, but 

 VOL. II. 2 c 



