MERGUS SERRATOR, (Fmniina.) 
FEMALE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
Since the foregoing description was printed we have ob- 
tained a fine specimen of tliis bird, from a poulterer in 
Leadenhall Market, who received it with other wild fowl, 
from the fens of Ely. 
Its weight was twenty -seven ounces ; breadth thirty 
inches, length twenty inches. 
Bill and legs bright scarlet ; irides crimson. The crown 
of the head deep chesnut ; the whole of the upper parts of 
the body deep ash colour ; breast cinereous with a few in- 
distinct ferruginous blotches ; exterior quill feathers with 
white webs on the inner side. 
The flesh was dark red, inclining to purple, but was not 
so offensive, in either taste or smell, as some other speci- 
mens have been : the stomach contained fragments of bivalve 
shells. 
