84 
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. 
MERGUS SERRJITOR. 
[Plate LXIX.— Fig. 2, Male.] 
UHarle hupi'^ Bniss. VI, p. 237, 2, pi. 23; Vllarle hlanc et noir^ Id. p. 250, No. 4; 
II Hark no'ir., Id. p. 251, S., young male. — Bufi'. VIII, p. 273, 277. PI. Enl. 207. — 
Bewick, II, />. 235. — Temm. Man. d'Orn. p. 884. — Red-breasted Goosander., Edw. pi. 
95 . — Montagu, Orn. Die. Sup. — Gmel, Syst. I, /». 546, et var. — Lid. Orn. p. 829, No. 
4. Gen. Syn. Ill, p. 423, No. 3, et var. ; Id. Sup. II, p. 337, Ab. 2. — Rr. Zool. N‘o. 261./;/. 
93, male and female. — Arct. Zool. No. 466. — Cuv. Reg. An. I, p. 540. — Peale’s Mu- 
seum, No. 2936, 
THIS is much more common in our fresh waters than either 
of the preceding, and is frequently brought to the Philadelphia 
market from the shores of the Delaware. It is an inhabitant of 
both continents. In the United States it is generally migratory; 
though a few are occasionally seen in autumn ; but none of their 
nests have as yet come under my notice. They also frequent the 
seashore, keeping within the bays and estuaries of rivers. They 
swim low in the water, and, when wounded in the wing, very dex- 
terously contrive to elude the sportsman or his dog, by diving and 
coming up at a great distance, raising the bill only above water, 
and dipping down again with the greatest silence. The young 
males of a year old are often found in the plumage of the female ; 
their food consists of small fry, and various kinds of shell-fish. 
The Red-breasted Merganser is said by Pennant to breed on 
Loch Mari in the county of Ross, in North Britain; and also in 
the isle of Hay. Latham informs us that it inhabits most parts of 
the north of Europe on the continent, and as high as Iceland ; also 
in the Russian dominions, about the great rivers of Siberia, and the 
lake Baikal. Is said to be frequent in Greenland, where it breeds 
on the shores. The inhabitants often take it by darts thrown at 
