34 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
This handsome bird, the smallest of the Mergansers, is found generally 
throughout North America. Nuttall remarks that in winter it migrates 
as far south as Mexico. The Hooded Merganser breeds in various por¬ 
tions of the United States, and also far northward. Dr. Coues (. Birds 
of the Northwest) states that it “breeds in northern Dakota and also on 
the upper Missouri and Milk rivers.” I have seen eggs of this bird 
which were labeled “ Maine,” and am informed that young, but a few 
days old, have been taken in New York State. In Pennsylvania this 
species is rather common, and is generally seen singly or in pairs, ; 
sometimes in flocks of five or eight, in rivers and ponds during the 
spring, fall and winter months. A few of these ducks are also observed 
here in summer, but as natives they are quite uncommon, and they 
have of late years been found breeding only in a few secluded locali¬ 
ties in our state. Prof. H. Justin Roddy, of Millersville, Pa., in a letter 
dated July 15,1889, says, “ The Hooded Merganser does not now breed 
regularly in Perry county (Pa.), but I have the last two years secured 
young specimens; one last June (1888), and one this year in the same 
month. They formerly bred regularly along Sherman’s creek, near the 
Warm Springs.” Mr. August Koch, of Williamsport, informs me this 
Merganser is a regular but rare breeder in Lycoming county. The 
late Wm. Y. Rambo, of West Chester, had in his collection two adults 
(male and female) of this species which were captured four years ago, 
in midsummer, in Union county. I have an adult female taken June 
23, 1890, in Chester county, where this Merganser is seldom seen in 
summer. “ The Hooded Mergansers that remain with us nestle in the 
same kind of holes or hollows as the Wood Duck; at least I have found 
their nests in such situations seven or eight times, although I never saw 
one of them alight on the branches of a tree, as the birds just mentioned 
are wont to do. They dive as it were directly into their wooden burrows, 
where, on a few dried weeds and feathers of different kinds, with a 3 mall 
quantity of down from the breast of the female, the eggs, five to eight 
in number, are deposited. The young, like those of the Wood Duck, 
are conveyed to the water by their mother, who carries them gently in 
her bill; for the male takes no part in providing for his offspring, but 
abandons his mate as soon as incubation has commenced. The affec¬ 
tionate mother leads her young among the tall, rank grasses which fill 
the shallow pools or the borders of creeks, and teaches them to procure 
snails, tadpoles and insects.”— Audubon. 
I have noticed that the Hooded Mergansers are usually to be found 
about mill-ponds and other small bodies of water, while the other two 
species are mostly found frequenting the shallow borders of the larger 
streams. 
During the summer months these birds are said to feed on fishes and 
various forms of aquatic insects. In the following table will be found 
the stomach contents of eleven Hooded Mergansers examined by myself: 
