The Red-Breasted Merganser — Mergus Serrator, Linnæus
Nearly allied to the preceding species, the Merganser is fairly common round our shores in winter, and nests in considerable numbers in Scotland, both on lakes and tarns, as well as on the coasts in the north and west. In Ireland it is a very common resident, breeding especially abundantly on the west coast. In habits and food it resembles the Goosander, but is less frequently found inland and far more partial to the sea than that species. The nest is not placed in a hole but in thick cover at no great distance from water; the eggs, generally about ten in number, are of a pale greenish drab and are never of that creamy tint which distinguishes those of the former species. In these Ducks the male apparently helps the female in attending on the young and in catching the small fry on which they live.
Although smaller, this species is not unlike the Goosander; the male may always be recognised by his reddish breast, streaked with black; the wing patch is white, barred with black, and on the breast at the point of the wing there is a conspicuous tuft of white feathers, with black margins; the long falcated inner scapulars are black. The female has a distinct black bar across the wing patch, but in other respects, except size, closely resembles the Duck Goosander. Length 24 in.; wing 9·5 in.