ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
THE SWANS, GEESE, DUCKS, AND MERGANSERS
Hooded Merganser
The beautiful Hooded Merganser (Lophodytes cucul-latus) is also the only representative of its genus, it and the true Mergansers having the culmen longer than the tarsus, while from the Mergansers it differs in having the serrations of both mandibles short, blunt, and not distinctly inclined backwards at the tips. The male has a magnificent circular crest of hairlike feathers, which is pure white, bordered by a sharply defined black rim.
The head, neck, and upper back are black, the breast and abdomen white, and the sides light cinnamon finely barred with black. The female has a much smaller crest and is grayish brown above and white below, while the young are similar to the female, but have the crest much more rudimentary.
The Hooded Merganser is found generally throughout North America, breeding mainly to the northward and migrating southward in winter as far as Mexico and Cuba. It frequents the quiet water of ponds, lakes, and slow-flowing streams, feeding largely on vegetable substances. It nests in hollow trees after the manner of the Wood-Duck, and lays from six to ten buffy white eggs. Mr. Bent found it to be one of the rarer Ducks in the Devil's Lake region of North Dakota, while Mr. Ernest E. Thompson reports it as a common summer resident in various parts of Manitoba.
True Mergansers
Of the true Mergansers (Merganser) two species Merganser serrator. are found in North America, the American (M. americanus) and the Red-breasted (M. serrator). All have a more or less conspicuous occipital crest, the males being grayish above, somewhat pied with black and whitish, and creamy white or pale salmon-colored below, while the neck and head are greenish black. Most of them nest in hollow trees, but some, as the Red-breasted species, may nest on the ground, under a rock or even in a hole in the ground. The eggs are usually from six to ten in number and creamy or buffy white in color.
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