Even the merest tyro in bird study need have no fear of confusing the
male of this species with any other bird, as a glance at the picture
will make evident. No other bird can boast such a crest, and few ducks
a more striking pattern of dress or a more stately manner. The species
inhabits the whole of North America, including Cuba, occasionally
wandering to Europe and rarely to Greenland. It is locally common and
even abundant, or used to be, in well watered and well wooded regions
where fish are abundant, but seems to be growing less numerous with the
advance of settlements in these regions. The food consists of fish,
mollusks, snails, and fresh water insects which are obtained by diving
as well as by gleaning.
The winter range of this "fish duck" is largely determined by the
extent of open water on our lakes and streams. Thus it is regularly
found in Minnesota wherever there is open water, even during the
severest winters, but under other conditions it may be absent from
regions much farther south. There can be little doubt that a large
proportion of the individuals pass the winter well south, only a few
being able to find subsistence about the springs and mouths of streams
in the northern states.
Is it entirely due to individual taste, or may it be a difference in
the food habits of these birds in different parts of the country that
their flesh is highly esteemed in some regions but will scarcely be
eaten at all in others? If it is true that the Michigan individuals
eat snails, crabs, and mollusks rather than fish, and are therefore
excellent for the table, while the California ones prefer fish and
are therefore not fit for food, why have we not here a clear case of
tendency to differentiation which will ultimately result in a good
sub-species?
The nesting of the hooded merganser is even more erratic than its
occurrence. It has been found nesting in Florida as well as in the
more northern parts of the country, and here and there throughout its
whole range, being apparently absent from many regions during the
nesting season. It is unlike the other "fish ducks" in preferring still
water and secluded streams, but resembles the wood duck in building
its nest a short distance from the water in a hollow tree or stump or
on the flat side of a leaning or fallen tree, often forty or more feet
from the ground. The nest consists of weeds, leaves, and grasses with
a soft lining of feathers and down. This warm nest must be intended
to act as an aid to incubation rather than as a warm place for the
young ducks, since they, like other ducks, are carried to the water in
the beak of the mother-bird shortly after they are hatched. The nest
complement ranges from six to eighteen eggs, the average being about
ten. The eggs are variously described by different authors, both as
regards color and size, from pure white, pearly white, creamy white,
buffy white to buff-colored, and from 1.75 × 1.35, to 2.25 × 1.75
inches. The average size is probably nearly 2.10 × 1.72.
The downy ducklings are brown in color and, as they skim over the
water, their pink feet churning up a spray behind, they present a
bewitching picture. The male bird, like other ducks, assumes no share
of the labors of incubation, but entertains himself hunting fish in
some solitary stream where food is plentiful, and in proper season
returns to assume the duties of the head of his lusty family.
The nesting season must necessarily vary greatly with locality.
In Minnesota fresh eggs are found during the third week of April,
according to Dr. P. L. Hatch. The date would probably be much earlier
with the Florida birds. The locality selected for the nest is also
variable with the different parts of the country.
The manner of flight of the different species of ducks is usually
characteristic to the eye of the careful student. Thus the hooded
mergansers fly in a compact flock of about a dozen birds with a
directness and velocity that is wonderful. Dr. Hatch says, in his
"Birds of Minnesota:" "Once in January, 1874, when the mercury
had descended to 40 below zero, while a north wind was blowing
terrifically, I saw a flock of six of this species flying directly into
the teeth of the blizzard at their ordinary velocity of not less than
ninety miles an hour." This may sound rather strong to some, but their
flight is certainly very rapid, as any gunner will testify.
The "fish ducks," or mergansers, are an interesting group of three
American species, of which the hooded is the smallest. The long,
slender, toothed or serrated bill of this group provides a field
character which will serve to identify them at a glance. It is to
be hoped that their habit of feeding largely upon fish will prove a
protection from entire extermination.