RED-BREASTED MERGANSER 175 
A Merganser which frequented Douglas Bay in Novem- 
ber of the same year was perhaps of this species, which in 
female dress is not easily distinguished from the next. 
The species is a somewhat rare winter visitor, but in 
small numbers appears every year in the mainland dis- 
tricts nearest the island. It is seemingly more common 
in Galloway than with us, and on the English side is not 
infrequent on lakes and estuaries, rivers and reservoirs. 
It is uncommon in Shetland (where, however, it has 
perhaps bred) and in Orkney, and has once only been 
certainly recorded in the Outer Hebrides, It is however 
extending its nesting range on the Scottish mainland. 
MERGUS SERRATOR, Linn. RED- 
BREASTED MERGANSER. 
Though doubtless occurring regularly as a winter migrant, 
this species is scarce in Man. It has been met with, how- 
ever, both on salt and fresh water. During the often- 
mentioned snow and frost of 1895, on 18th February, a 
full-plumaged male was found dead on Douglas shore, at 
the north of the Bay. 
The species is common in Ireland in winter, and also 
breeds in many parts, as on Carlingford Lough, and islands 
in Strangford Lough and Lough Neagh. It is said by Gray 
and Anderson to nest sparingly in Wigtownshire, but in 
Kirkcudbrightshire seems to be a winter visitant only. On 
the north-west coast of England it regularly appears as a 
winter migrant, but is rare in the interior. It nests, often 
commonly, on all the groups of the outer Scottish isles, as 
well as in the north and west of the mainland. 
