RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
103 
parts, are pure wliite ; sides, under the wings and flanks, red- 
dish brown, beautifully crossed with parallel lines of black ; 
tail, pointed, consisting of twenty feathers of a sooty brown ; 
legs and feet, flesh-coloured; claws, large and stout. The 
windpipe has a small labyrinth. 
The female is rather less, the crest smaller, and of a light 
rust or dull ferruginous colour, entirely destitute of the white; 
the upper half of the neck, a dull drab, with semicircles of 
lighter, the white on the wings is the same as in the male, but 
the tertials are shorter and have less white; the back is black- 
ish brown ; the rest of the plumage corresponds very nearly 
with the male. 
This species is peculiar to America;* is said to arrive at 
Hudson^s Bay about the end of May ; builds close to the lakes ; 
the nest is composed of grass, lined with feathers from the 
breast ; is said to lay six white eggs. The young are yellow, 
and fit to fly in July.f 
RED-BREASTED MERG ANSER—MERGUS SERRATOR. 
Plate LXIX. Fig. 2. 
L’Harle Euppe, Briss. vi. p. 237. 2. pi. 23. — Buff. viii. p. 213.-^Pl. Enl. 207. — 
Bewich, ii. p. 235. — Edw. pi. 95. — Lath. Syn. iii. p. 432. — Pealds Museum, 
No. 2936. 
MERGUS SERRATOR— Linn JEVS4 
Mergus senator, Linn. Syst. i. 208. — Bonap. Synop. p. 397. — L’Harle Euppe, 
Temm. Man. ii. p. 884. — Red-breasted merganser, Mont. Ornith. Eict. ii. and 
Supp. Flem. Brit. Anim, p. 129. — Selhy, Illust. Br. Ornith, pL 58. 
This is much more common in our fresh waters than either 
of the preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia 
* The female, or a young male of this bird, has lately been killed in England, 
and is figured in the last part of Mr Selby’s Illustrations. This, I believe, is the 
first instance of its occurrence in Europe.— En. 
d* Hutchins, as quoted by Latham. 
t This beautiful species is also a native of both continents, and has similar 
manners with its congeners. In this country during winter they fi’equent the 
