It may be considered doubtful whether the bird now before us can fairly
be included in a list of the birds acknowledged as _game_ by the
American sportsman. Their food, consisting entirely of fish, causes
their flesh to be, in our estimation unfit for food; yet there are not
wanting some, who pretend to consider them capital meat, and others who
pursue them as game, from a love of sport and a desire to acquaint
themselves with its natural history. On this ground, therefore, we have
admitted his name into our catalogue, and placed his portrait in our
gallery.
He is a winter inhabitant of the States; is found on the seas, fresh
water lakes and rivers, and bears many different appellations, such as
the Water Pheasant, the Sheldrake, the Fisherman, and the Diver. The
name Goosander is a popular misnomer, because no one of all the nine
species of the genus Mergus has either the appearance or the habits of
geese of any description. They have the bill rather longer than the
middle size, and much more slender and hard in its texture than the
bills of ducks, not being a dabbling or sentient bill like theirs, but
prehensile and of a very peculiar form. The mandibles are straight for a
greater part of their length, but the upper one is much hooked at the
point, and very sharp, and the cutting edges of both mandibles are in
all their length beset with short, but strong and sharp teeth inclining
backward. The bill is thus fitted for taking a very firm hold of
slippery prey, and its skill in capturing fish proves how effective is
this simple apparatus. The Goosander, from having its legs far backward,
is an awkward walker, while it does not dive so well as the proper
diver, yet, by the arrangement of its bill, it is enabled to levy far
more severe contributions upon fish-ponds than any birds which resort to
such places, not even excepting the herons. Their wings are of moderate
length, but clean and firmly made, and the plumage of the body is also
firm and compact, so that the power of flight is considerable, and when
necessary it can be extended to long distances without much fatigue. As
is the case with the ducks, there is an enlargement of the pulmonic end
of the trachea, which probably answers the purpose of a magazine of air,
and enables the birds to remain much longer under water than they could
do if not thus provided. The general color of the bill is red; but a
portion round the nostrils, the ridge of the upper mandible, and the
nail on its tip are dusky. The inside of the gape is bright orange; the
head and the crest, the last of which is most conspicuous in the male,
together with the upper part of the neck, are dark green, passing into
black on the chin and throat; the lower part of the neck, the outer
scapulars, the breast, and all the under part of the body, are white,
with a tinge of yellowish-red. The back and the scapulars next the back
are black, fading into grayish toward the rump; and the tail, which
consists of eighteen pointed feathers, is of a gray color. The principal
quills and coverts are brownish-black, with the exception of the middle
secondaries and the extremities of their coverts, and these form a white
speculum or wing-spot. The head and neck of the female are rust color,
the upper part is of a grayish tint, and the under part white, with a
yellowish shade. In consequence of this she has been figured and
described as the Dun Diver; and the young male, which resembles her in
color, has been considered as the male of the same. The bill and feet
are reddish ash color. The accurate observations of Wilson, Nuttall, and
others, have proved beyond a doubt the true character of the Dun Divers,
and the unfortunate Goosander, whom the English discoverers of the
latter bird had deprived of any consort, has been again restored to his
legitimate rights.
Among the other species which are described in the Ornithologies as
belonging to the Mergansers, we may record the names of the Red-breasted
Merganser and the Hooded Merganser, as species known to American
sportsmen. The latter is peculiar to this continent, migrating during
the winter as far south as Mexico, and displaying its high, circular and
beautifully colored crest in great numbers on the broad waters of the
Mississippi, its elegant form and the strong contrast of the colors of
its plumage rendering it always an object of attention and admiration.
[Illustration]