RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
361 
This Merganser is again another general inhabitant of the 
whole northern hemisphere, spreading itself in the summer 
season throughout the remote fur countries and western in- 
terior, from whence, at the approach and during the continu- 
ance of winter, it migrates towards the sea-coast in quest of 
open water and the necessary means of subsistence. 1 he Red- 
breasted Mergansers, equally common m Isurope as m North 
America, are seen as far as Iceland, breed in Greenland, and 
inhabit most parts of the Russian dominions, particularly the 
great rivers of Siberia and the waters of Lake Baikal. Ihey 
arrive about Hudson Bay in June as soon as the ice breaks 
up, and make their nests immediately after, of withered grass, 
and a lining of down or feathers from their breasts. 1 he 
young are at first of a dirty brown, like young goslings. 
The breeding-range of these birds is no less extensive than 
the preceding. According to Audubon they nest in rank 
w'eeds on the borders of lakes in Maine and other parts of the 
Union, and Mr. Say observed them on Lake Michigan in 42°, 
on the 7th of June, assembled there, no doubt, to pass the 
summer. 
This species, like the rest of the family, dives well, and 
dexterously eludes the sportsman when wounded, moving 
about often in the greatest silence, with its bill only elevated 
above the water for respiration. In the winter, while here, 
these birds frequent the bays and estuaries as well as fresh 
waters, and feed as usual on fry and shell-fish. 
The Slielldrake breeds from about latitude 42° in the West, and 
from about latitude 45° in the East, to the Arctic Circle, and spar- 
in<yly north of that line. It winters on the coast from south Green- 
land to the .Southern States 
Itbreeds in abundance on the Miramichi River in New Brunswick. 
The female bears all the burden of hatching the eggs apd rear- 
ing the young, for she is deserted by her mate soon after she begins 
to sit. She is, however, equal to the task, and makes a most duti- 
ful mother. She sits patiently and very closely on the nest, never 
rising from it until an intruder is almost within arm s reach, and 
then strives to decoy him from the spot. Soon after they are 
hatched, the young are led to the water, and at an early age they 
