114 
THE HOODED MERGANSER. 
At length, having satisfied their appetite, they rise on wing, fly low over the 
creek with almost incredible velocity, return to the broad stream, rove along 
its margin until they meet with a clean sand-beach, where they alight, and 
where, secure from danger, they repose until the return of day. A sly 
racoon may, when in search of mussels, chance to meet wilh the sleeping 
birds, and surprise one of them ; but this rarely happens, for they are as 
wary and vigilant as their enemy is cunning, and were the prowler to 
depend upon Hooded Mergansers for food, he would be lean enough. 
This bird ranges throughout the United States during winter, content with 
the food it meets with in the bays and estuaries of the eastern coast, and on 
the inland streams. The dam of the Pennsylvania miller is as agreeable to 
it as that of the Carolina rice-planter. The Lehigh and Brandywine creek 
have their fishes, as well as the waters of Bear Grass or Bayou Sara. Nay, 
the numerous streams and pools of the interior of the Floridas are resorted 
to by this species, and there I have found them full of life and gaiety, as 
well as on the Missouri, and on our great lakes.- When the weather proves 
too cold for them, they move southwards, many of them moving towards 
Mexico. 
The Hooded Merganser is a most expert diver, and so vigilant that at 
times it escapes even from the best percussion gun. As to shooting at it 
with a flint lock, you may save yourself the trouble unless you prevent it 
from seeing the flash of the pan. If you wound one, never follow it : the 
bird, when its strength is almost exhausted, immerses its body, raises the 
point of its bill above the surface, and in this manner makes its way among 
the plants, until finding some safe retreat along the shore, it betakes itself to 
it, and there remains, so that you may search for it in vain, unless you have 
a good dog. Even on wing it is not easily shot. If on a creek ever so 
narrow, it will fly directly towards its mouth, although you may be standing 
knee deep in the middle. It comes up like a ball, rises and passes over 
head with astonishing speed, and if you shoot at it, do not calculate upon 
a hit. You may guess how many one may shoot in a day. 
When I removed from Pennsylvania to Kentucky, the Hooded Merganser 
was not uncommon in the neighbourhood of Louisville during summer, and 
I told Wilson so. On several occasions I caught the young with a par- 
tridge net ; and let me assure you, reader, that they are not yellow, as is 
alleged by some writers, but very dark brown. Even when feathered they 
retain the same colour until the beginning of August, when they gradually 
change it for the dress of the adult female. 
Like all the rest of the tribe, which, when far north, for the want of 
hollow trees, breeds on the moss or ground, the Hooded Mergansers that 
remain with us nestle in the same kind of holes or hollows as the Wood 
