HOODED MERGANSER. 
183 
shot from the nest on Loch Awe has the crown and 
crest pale umber-brown, cheeks and neck reddish 
brown, paler on the fore part and chin, and shading 
into a brownish grey on the lower part of the neck ; 
the upper parts and sides of the breast are blackish 
grey, the tips of the feathers ragged and of a pale 
grey ; the greater covers and secondaries are as in 
the male, showing the double black bar across ; the 
tertials have the black edge, but it is much broader, 
and except on one or two the white is not pure ; 
the breast, belly, and vent are pure white. The 
young males are nearly similar, the colour, of the 
head being rather brighter and the crest very short. 
The young, a few days old, are, above, of a dark 
clove-brown ; below, white, having the sides of the 
neck reddish. 
The Hooded Merganser, Merges cuccllatus. 
— Mr. Selby first noticed this species as a native 
of Britain, and sent a description of a specimen, a 
young female, to the Transactions of the Natural 
History Socioty of Newcastle and Durham, and 
afterwards gave a figure of the same in his Illustra- 
tions of British Ornithology. Since that time a 
few additional specimens have been obtained in 
England, among them an adult male by Mr. Hay 
of Stoke Nayland. In Europe it also only claims 
the rank of an occasional visitant, and is best known 
as an American species. In winter it ranges through 
the United States, and breeds in the vicinity of 
Louisville, placing the nest in hollow trees; but 
