162 
AN ATI DAS. 
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
Scale Duck (north of Ireland). 
Mergus serrator, Linn. 
Is indigenous in Ireland ; 
But, as in the instance of various other species which breed here, 
the numbers are greatly increased in winter by migration from the 
north. Sir William Jardine observes, that it is a winter visitant 
to the south of Scotland, and is not nearly so common on fresh- 
water at that season as the goosander.* Mr. Selby remarks that, 
“ upon the Northumbrian and other coasts of the north of Eng- 
land, this species is a regular winter visitant” (p. 379); and 
Montagu, in- the supplement to his work, states that “ this may 
be considered a rare species in the south of England.” The red- 
breasted merganser thus appears to be, in Great Britain, the re- 
verse of the smew ; — more common towards the north, and rare 
towards the south of the island. According to the information 
supplied by my correspondents in the south of Ireland, the red- 
breasted merganser is also more common in the north than there. 
The M. serrator breeds on some of the islands in Strangford 
Lough. An old sporting friend, many years ago, obtained from 
a nest there, eleven eggs, and placed them under a muscovy duck, 
by which, in from six to eight days, they were all “ brought out,” 
having, of course, been partially incubated by their proper owner 
previous to their abstraction. The young,all lived until they were 
able to fly away, when they made their escape, my friend not 
wishing to retain them after he saw that they were scale-ducTcs 
instead of shell-ducks, whose eggs he thought had been procured. 
These young birds are said to have cleared all the waters, 
within a mile of their birth-place, of fishes and frogs. A very 
graphic account is given of their activity in scudding along the 
surface of the water, as if it were land, when they saw a fly alight. 
* ‘Brit. Birds,’ vol. iv. p. 181. 
