Red-breasted Merganser loi 
the eye to the centre of the upper mandible. Chin white ; bill slatey red-brown ; nail bright 
bone-yellow ; legs and feet yellowish and inclined to dusky slate in the webs and at the 
joints. 
Length at two days old, 6 inches. 
The young in down of the Red-breasted Merganser closely resembles the young Goos- 
ander, but is smaller and slightly richer in colour. The bill is not so stout. 
Immature Male. — In first plumage the young plumage resembles the adult female, but 
the crest is less, the bill much shorter, and the plumage of the upper parts more slatey and 
not nearly so brown, and the cheeks more red with less white. The ends of the tail are also 
worn. By the end of October young males are easily recognised by their superior size and 
bill. It is not until December that much change takes place. The red-brown crest is then 
abundant, and black feathers begin to appear on the sides of the crown and cheeks, chin, 
mantle, and scapulars. The tail and rump also begin to moult to blue-grey, and many 
vermiculated feathers mixed with slatey-brown ones come in on the thighs and flanks. By 
the end of March some white feathers appear on the scapulars and the first white broadly 
black-edged feathers come in on the sides of the breast overlapping the wings. These pro- 
minent feathers are, however, never complete as in the case of the adult males, but are 
always divided in colour, the lower halves being red and vermiculated with black from the 
broad black edge to the white above. The nape is now very dark brown edged with worn 
blue-grey, and not a clear rich red-brown as in the female. The long inner secondaries, 
similar to adult males, now also appear. 
From this date the plumage undergoes no further advance toward spring plumage, 
except that the tail is completely renewed. The young male during May and June moults 
all signs of the brilliant spring plumage, and passes into an eclipse similar to the adult male. 
It can, however, always be identified by the immature wing, which is brown and slate on all 
its upper parts, instead of being black with a large white area in the centre, as in the adult 
male. During August, September, and October the general moult towards complete winter 
plumage is in progress, and the young male does not come into full dress until the end of 
November. It may then be considered adult at seventeen months. I have seen a few 
young males with traces of the eclipse remaining as late as the middle of December, but 
this is, I think, unusual. 
Adult Male. — Head and upper neck black, glossed with purple and bottle green. The 
occipital feathers are much elongated and form a double crest which is held apart in life ; 
lower part of the neck white, with a very narrow line of black feathers joining the back of 
the head to the black mantle ; back and inner scapulars glossy black, with a purplish tinge ; 
lower back white, vermiculated with blackish-brown and having a few brownish-grey 
feathers in the upper back. Tail brown, suffused with ash-grey ; outer scapulars white ; 
lower neck and upper chest red, marbled and edged with black ; along the sides of the chest 
are a double row of broad feathers, white in the middle and broadly edged with black. 
These overlap the wing and are a striking feature in life. Flanks and thighs white, boldly 
vermiculated with black ; primaries, dark brown ; secondaries, white edged with black on the 
inner half; outer secondaries and lesser secondaries white and broadly marked on the upper 
part with black ; upper part of the wing white and surrounded by dark brown ; under parts 
creamy-white and in life tinged with reddish-buff. 
