816 
U. S. P. R. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS ZOOLOGY GENERAL REPORT. 
LOPHODYTES CUCULLATUS, Reich. 
Hooded Merganser. 
Mergus cucullatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 207.— Gmelin, I, 544 Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 79; pi. Ixix Bon. Obs 
No. 251.— Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 463.— Nuttall, Man. II, 465.— Aud. Orn Biog. Ill, 1835, 246 : 
V, 619 ; pi. 233— Ib. Syn. 299.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 402 ; pi. 413.— E it-ton, Mon. Anat. 177. 
Merganser cucullatus, Bonap. List, 1838. 
Lophodytes cucullatus, Reich. Systema Avium, 1852, p. ix. — Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XLIII, 1856. 
Round-crested Buck, Catesby, Carol. 
Hooded Merganser, Pennant. 
Sp. Ch. — Head with an elongated, compressed, semicircular crest. Anterior extremity of nostril reaching not quite as far as the 
middle of commissure. Frontal feathers extending nearly as far as half the distance from lateral feathers to nostril ; the latter 
much beyond the feathers on side of lower mandible. Bill shorter than head. 
Male. Bill black. Head, neck, and back black; under parts and centre of crest white. Sides chestnut brown, barred with 
black. White anterior to the wing, crossed by two black crescents. Lesser coverts gray ; white speculum with a basal and 
median black bar; black tertials streaked centrally with white. 
Female with a shorter and more pointed crest. The head and neck reddish brown ; the back without pure black ; the sides 
without transverse bars ; the white of wings less extended. 
Length, 17.50; wing, 7.90; tarsus, 1.20; commissure, 1.98. 
Hah. — Whole of North America. 
The black border of the crest is about a quarter of an inch deep, the central portion snowy 
wbite. The lower part of back and rump are dark brown. The greater coverts and secondaries 
are black, tipped with white ; the black showing at the base of both as two bars. The middle 
coverts are ashy gray. The white of secondaries is confined to the outer webs. The axillars 
and inside of wing are white. 
The female has a much smaller crest, more like that of the female of the other species. The 
head, neck, and jugulum are grayish chestnut brown ; the back and top of head dark brown ; 
the chin whitish ; the under parts purer white. The wing is somewhat similar ; the white 
more restricted, especially on the tertials ; the middle coverts dark brown. The bill appears to 
be blackish above, and reddish below. 
Some specimens, perhaps young males in female plumage, have the reddish feathers of the 
crest passing into whitish at the tips. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col- 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig'l 
No. 
Collected by- 
Length. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
5475 
5941 
9875 
9876 
9874 
9873 
s 
Dona Ana, New Mexico 
Nov. 21,1855 
164 
19.00 
8.00 
Bill brown, iris yellow, feet gray. 
Q 
3 
48 
Feb. 2,1854 
do 
