Plate CCCCI. Male and Female.
Male with an elongated longitudinal double crest, eighteen
tail-feathers, bill and feet deep carmine; head and upper part of neck
glossy greenish-black, with bright green reflections along the sides,
and purplish on the crest; a broad collar of white, succeeded by
another of light brownish-red, longitudinally streaked with dusky;
lower parts white, except the sides of the body and rump, which are
transversely undulated with greyish-black, and the larger
wing-coverts, which are ash-grey; fore part of back, and inner
scapulars deep black; feathers anterior to the wing white, with a
broad margin of black; some of the anterior wing-coverts ash-grey, the
rest, the outer scapulars, and the terminal half of the secondary
coverts, pure white; basal portion of the latter, primary coverts, and
primary quills, black, the latter tinged with brownish-grey;
secondaries white, with the base and the outer margin of most black,
which colour predominates on the inner; middle and hind part of back
ash-grey, undulated with white and dusky; tail brownish-grey. Female
with crest shorter, the bill and feet paler; head and fore part of
neck light reddish-brown; throat and under part white, excepting the
sides and larger wing-coverts, which are brownish-grey; hind neck,
back, tail-coverts, tail, scapulars, and wing-coverts brownish-grey;
wings greyish-black, with a large white patch, formed by the terminal
portions of the secondary coverts, and the greater part of some of the
outer secondaries. Young, when fledged, resemble the female. Young, in
down, with the head and hind neck reddish-brown, the back
greyish-brown, with three white spots on each side, the lower parts
greyish-white; a white band from the bill to the eye, a reddish-brown
band under the eye, and along the side of the neck; the lower parts
greyish-white.
_Male_, 24-1/2, 33. _Female_, 24, 34-1/2.
From Texas westward to the Columbia River and northward. Common during
autumn and spring. Also throughout the United States, and along the
Atlantic shores. Breeds from New York to Labrador and the Fur
Countries, as well as along the Great Lakes, and on the Rocky
Mountains.
Red-breasted Merganser, Mergus Serrator, Wils. Amer. Orn. v.
viii. p. 91.
Mergus Serrator, Bonap. Syn. p. 397.
Mergus Serrator, Red-breasted Merganser, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 462.
Red-breasted Merganser, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 463.
Red-breasted Merganser, Mergus Serrator, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. v.
p. 92.