R E D - B R E A S T E D MERGANSER.
MERGUS SERRATOR.
Tnc Baq-blwMMd Merganser is by far the most numerous of tbc family of sharp-billed Diving-Ducks that
frequent tlie British Islands. Tins species mny lie met with in small Hocks, during most winters, along the
sea-coast of the southern and eastern counties. I hare not recognized It in the north of I In gland on more
than one occasion, though in tiie south of Scotland it appears less scarce. In the more northern parts of the
Highlands this handsome bird is a resident, breeding in several counties and on the adjacent islands.
Between fifteen ami twenty years ago small parlies were occasionally to he observed about the channels in
the muddy harbours of Chichester, tan-worth, and Bosham : and in December lSuO I killed a remarkably liar;
male at 1'agluuu Harbour •, near liognor. The rosy hue on the breast of this specimen was deeper in tint
than in any bird I have subsequently obtained or observed. Numbers showing the plumage of the female or
the various Immature stages may also he seen annually in flocks of from half a dozen to fifteen or twenty off
the coast between Littlehampton and Shoreham. These birds for the most part resort to the open sea, though
when undisturbed they not unfrequently make their way to the small pools of brackish water inside the
sea-beach, and occasionally proceed some distance up the rivers. This species is not so plentiful towards the
cast of Sussex; but a few are to be met with along the roast oif Pevensey Marsh and also in Ilyo Bay. Some
years bark, before the water was drawn ulT from tlie pools and channel- about the harbour and marshes round
live, these spots were frequently visited. Tlie constant persecution, however, that they met with from tlie
numerous gonncrs eventually drove them from this district, before the reelaimin^ of the laud rendered their
old haunts unsuitable. On the last occasion (January l^(Mi) that I passed a week for fowling in the bay and
marshes, I did not observe more than one or two single birds, and these stragglers kept entirely to the salt water.
Along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast these birds are usually to he seen during autumn, w inter, and early
spring. The salt-water harbours about Lowestoft and Yarmouth provide a supply of suitable food, but the
prnfessioual gunners are far too watchful to allow them many chances of settling. OfT this const 1 have never
observed the Merganser so plentiful as in the English Channel. In severe weather a few may be met with
on any open plaaei of water on the rivers and broads of Kast Norfolk. According to my own experience in
this locality, the Merganser is not so plentiful as the Goosander. Old males in perfect plumage, as is the case
in all parts of the south, are exceedingly scarce as well as wary. During hard frosts in the winters of 1800
and 1801, I met with this species on several occasions in open parts of the Cam, near Cambridge, and in the
neighbourhood of H'aterhcack and IVickcn fens, also more than once on the backwater near Granehester.
These birds did not frequent the marshy pools on the poor lands or fens, resorting only to the rivers or lodes f.
Along the coast of Kast Lothian flocks of Mergansers appear early in the whiter; the estuary of the
Tyne, near Dunbar, is a favourite s]>nf. At times ihey make their way to the pools on the links; but in such
• Thi. hirlii-ur. L firit-rnlr man for fowl in Imjt gat In, hia now hn-n JRIUI.d FOR Kmc j'un.
t Local Bin? fee T IrottJ nM tjfet, m\ Ml ui •fipttti I'J W-btfeMMi bojU.