M e r g u s se r r a to r , Linmeus*.
THE RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.
Mergus serrator.
T h e R e d -b r e a st e d M e r g a n se r is a species that breeds
annually in some parts of Scotland and Ireland ; though by
far the larger portion of the birds which are found in this
country may be considered but as winter visitors which
arrive here late in autumn, and retire in spring to various
parts of Scandinavia and other high northern localities. In
winter, particularly dui'ing severe weather, they are not
uncommon on our coast, appearing to prefer hays and
estuaries, but sometimes pursuing the course of rivers and
visiting inland waters. On the east coast of England,
especially off Lincolnshire and Norfolk, they are decidedly
less numerous than the Goosander, and Mr. Cecil Smith
* Mergus Serrator, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 208 (1766).
thinks that this is also the case in Devon and Somerset; but,
as a rule, along the English Channel, as far as Cornwall,
the Red-breasted Merganser may be considered the commonest
species of the genus. To inland waters its visits
are less frequent than those of its larger congener, although
it is sometimes observed far up tidal rivers.
In Scotland the Red-breasted Merganser is a well-known
and resident species, being, as Mr. R. Gray remarks, an inhabitant
of nearly all the lakes of any importance north of
Loch Lomond; but on the east coast Mr. Gray had never
discovered any breeding-place. It is generally distributed
in Sutherlandshire; very abundant about Loch Maree in
Ross-shire ; and nests freely throughout the Hebrides; also,
sparingly, in the Orkneys and Shetlands.
In Ireland this species is more or less common in winter
round the coasts, and Sir R. Payne-Gallwey states that in
Cork Harbour, during the severe winter of 1878-79, he
often noticed from one hundred to even five or six hundred
of these Divers together. They nest annually on the
islands of Loughs Derg, Ree, Corrib, Erne, Conn, Cullen,
Strangford, Neagh, &c., and in many localities along the
coast; being generally known to the fishermen and fowlers
by the name of £ Sheld-ducks,’ and occasionally as ‘ Spear
Wigeon,’ on account of the sharp serrated bill.
The Red-breasted Merganser breeds in the Faeroes, Iceland,
Greenland, Scandinavia, Finland, and Northern
Russia ; also, sparingly, in the islands of the Baltic, and in
Northern Germany. In winter it visits the coasts and inland
waters of the Continent, and it is by no means rare
throughout the Mediterranean ; its migrations extending to
the lakes of Algeria, and to Egypt. It ranges across Siberia
to the Sea of Ochotsk, the Bureja Mountains, and the
Amoor in summer ; and to China and Japan in winter. In
India, where the Goosander is common during the cold season,
the Red-breasted Merganser is either exceedingly rare,
or has been overlooked, for Mr. Hume has only recorded the
occurrence of a single example, near Kurrachi. In North
America it is found throughout the northern districts from