THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
165 
three obtained. Nov. 7, 1838 ; four killed at a shot; one having 
caught a fish, the others flocked to their apparently more fortunate 
neighbour, and thus all fell victims : on examining the stomachs of two 
of these, one was found to contain only fragments of stone, of which 
there were many ; and the other, a small fish, and a number of the “ ear- 
bones” of some of the cod-tribe ( Gadidce ). September 27, 1840 ; two 
seen in the bay. It is late in autumn and in spring chiefly that they 
are brought to Belfast from other northern localities : in the first week 
of October, I have seen specimens from Green-castle, on the London- 
derry coast, and on the 9th of March, 1836, I purchased two from 
Killinchy, Strangford Lough : their stomachs were filled with the re- 
mains of fish. I have noted them twice as obtained in mid-winter ; — 
one at Strangford Lough on January 6th, 1838, and on the 26th of 
the same month, an immature male, having one bar of black on the 
white speculum, was shot on a dam of fresh-water, near Carrickfergus : 
its stomach contained many pebbles and the remains of fishes, and in 
its oesophagus were five large three-spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus 
brachycentrus ) . The late Mr. John Montgomery noted this species as 
received from Dundrum Bay, county Down, in November and Decem- 
ber, and as being there every winter, where the different sexes are re- 
spectively called bar-drakes and bar-ducks. 
A fowler endeavouring to obtain some of these birds in Larne Lough 
during three successive days in the middle of March 1850, was unable 
to do so, even with a swivel-gun, in consequence of their wildness. At 
least fifty birds were seen very far up the narrow part of the lough each 
day, some in pairs, and not more than a dozen in any flock. They came 
up daily from about its entrance, feeding with the flowing tide, and 
continued, on its ebb, to feed downwards. Within the preceding two 
months, fully a hundred mergansers daily frequented this locality for a 
considerable time, and flocks of twenty birds were common. Some 
years ago, nine were killed here at one shot with a swivel-gun. 
Localities in Antrim and Down only have hitherto been noticed 
in connection with this bird. In the north-west of Donegal it is 
said to be of autumn passage, common;”* is frequent during win- 
ter in Carlingford Bay, county Louth, and likewise in Dublin Bay, 
“ the crest was always upright, unless when it sloped a little backward, in fright ; 
it never lay down entirely.” 
* Mr. J. Y. Stewart. 
