AVIFAUNA OF LAYSAN, ETC. 



269 



71. MERGUS SERRATOR, Linn. 



RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 



Mergus serrator, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. ed. 10, i. p. 129 (1758) ; Henshaw, Auk, xvii. p. 203 (1900) (Hilo !). 

 Merganser serrator, Salvadori, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 479 (1895) j A. O. U. Check-list, ed. 2, p. 47 

 (1895). 



" I am not aware that this Duck has hitherto been recorded from the Islands, where it is a 

 casual and possibly a rather regular winter visitor. Nov. 8, 1899, one of these Mergansers 

 was shot by Mr. Otto Rose, of Hilo, near the town, being one of two seen. Nov. 28, I shot 

 the surviving bird a mile or two further down the coast in a small salt-water pond. It was 

 fat and in fine order, and had in its throat two of the common fresh and brackish-water fish 

 known to the natives as ' Ospu.' 



" The natives, to whom I showed this Duck, seemed in no wise surprised, claiming to 

 have seen the species before, though rarely. They gave it the name Moha ; but as this 

 name is applied also, according to Mr. Dole, to the Shoveller, its correct application is open 

 to doubt. Present-day natives know extremely little of Hawaiian birds, and usually are 

 either unable to name a bird at all or are in doubt. 



" In time, no doubt, as stated of the Gulls, particularly all the species of our north- 

 west Ducks will be noted from the Islands, nothing being more likely than that a few 

 stragglers will accompany the flocks of Shovellers and Pin-tails which are regular winter 

 visitors." (Henshaw.) 



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