THE MERGANSERS. 
63 
.1 ® flanks; three twin spots on the back, one pair behind 
e wing, another on each side of the lower back, and another 
side of the rump ; head more reddish-brown ; cheeks 
and a streak below the eye white; the ear-coverts and eyebrow 
ous, this colour extending down the sides of the neck ; 
foni behind the eye a streak of dark brown. 
Characters. — The Red-breasted Merganser is a smaller bird 
than the Goosander, and the male is distinguished by its 
i^ufous fore-neck and by the grey frecklings on the lower back 
and the wavy bars on the sides of the body, as well as by the 
'^hite markings on the ornamental black patch at the sides of 
he upper breast. The females resemble each other more, but 
the smaller size of the Red-breasted Merganser and its browner 
colour distinguish it. The Goosander is altogether more grey, 
especially on the flanks, which are dark brown in the Red- 
bneasted Merganser. In the female of the latter, moreover, 
he black bases to the white secondaries are more prominent, 
^nid the inner secondaries are margined with black. 
Hange in Great Britain. — The present species nests in Scotland 
and Ireland, but is only a winter visitor to the coasts of Eng- 
land, and is very seldom found inland. In the north and west 
of Scotland it breeds on the inland lochs as well as on the 
coasts and in the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. In 
Ireland, says Mr. R. J. Ussher, “ it breeds, often in consider- 
^le numbers, chiefly on islands in lakes and estuaries, in 
Honegal, Down, Fermanagh, Westmeath, Louth, Tipperary, 
Rerry, Clare, Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo, and Leitrim. 
Wext to the Wild Duck and Teal, this is the commonest 
breeding Duck in Ireland.” 
Range outside the British Islands. — ^The Red-breasted Merganser 
breeds throughout the northern portions of both hemispheres 
rbc Atlantic to the Pacific, and wanders south in winter 
it ;= b\ted States and the Bermudas. In the Old World 
Spo throughout the Mediterranean, the Black 
tR u Laspian, and in the east it visits China and Japan ; 
but tbough It is found on the Persian Gulf in winter, it 
appears to visit India but rarely, as it has only been recorded 
twice, in each case from Sind. 
Hahits. Like its relations, the Red-breasted Merganser is a 
