270 
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
soon after their arrival, chiefly on dry spots of ground in the 
islands; lay from eight to thirteen white eggs, the size of those 
of a duck; the nest is made of withered grass, and lined with 
the down of the breast. The young are of a dirty brown like 
young goslins. In October they all depart southward to the 
lakes, where they may have open water. 
This species is twenty-two inches in length, and thirty-two 
in extent; the bill is two inches and three quarters in length, 
of the colour of bright sealing wax, ridged above with dusky; 
the nail at the tip large, blackish, and overhanging; both man- 
dibles are thickly serrated; irides red; head furnished with a 
long hairy- crest which is often pendent, but occasionally erect- 
ed, as represented in the plate; this and part of the neck is black 
glossed with green ; the neck under this for two or three inches 
is pure white; ending in a broad space of reddish ochre spotted 
with black, which spreads over the lower part of the neck and 
sides of the breast; shoulders, back, and tertials deep velvetty 
black, the first marked with a number of singular roundish 
spots of white; scapulars white; wing coverts mostly white, 
crossed by two narrow bands of black; primaries black, secon- 
daries white, several of the latter edged with black; lower part 
of the back, the rump and tail coverts gray speckled with black; 
sides under the wings elegantly crossed with numerous waving 
lines of black; belly and vent white; legs and feet red; the tail 
dusky ash; the black of the back passes up the hind neck in a 
narrow band to the head. 
The female is twenty-one inches in length, and thirty in ex- 
tent; the crested head and part of the neck are of a dull sorrel 
colour; irides yellow; legs and bill red, upper parts dusky slate; 
wings black, greater coverts largely tipt with white, seconda- 
ries nearly all white; sides of the breast slightly dusky; whole 
lower parts pure white; the tail is of a lighter slate than the back. 
The crest is much shorter than in the male, and sometimes there 
is a slight tinge of ferruginous on the breast. 
The windpipe of the male of this species is very curious, and 
differs something from that of the Goosander. About two in- 
