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He is a noisy, lively, sociable Duck, who has in spring some pleasing notes, so mellow and musical that he may almost be said to sing; but he is not choice or dainty in his food, and the flesh is too rank for House People to eat. He has many absurd names besides "Old Squaw." The Hooded Merganser Length sixteen and a half to eighteen inches.
They seem to me to keep the sea better than the Red-breasted Merganser at least, I have not seen them seek shelter so much in the different bays. The Goosander is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum at present, though I think there used to be one, but I suppose it has got moth-eaten and been thrown away.
This interesting event spread cheerfulness through our residence and formed a topic of conversation for the rest of the day. On the 9th the approach of spring was still more agreeably confirmed by the appearance of a merganser and two gulls, and some loons or arctic divers, at the rapid.
They hung their dinner from the trees, out of reach, and made them cut the cord that held it, with an arrow. Did the Indians originate this, I wonder, in their direct way of looking at things, almost as simple as the birds'? Or was the idea whispered to some Indian hunter long ago, as he watched Merganser teach her young to dive?
Among those able to hold their own, with proper encouragement, are the following: two loons, two murres, the puffin, guillemot, razor-billed auk, dovekie and pomarine jæger; six gulls ivory, kittiwake, glaucous, great black-back, herring and Bonaparte; two terns arctic and common; the fulmar, two shearwaters, two cormorants, the red-breasted merganser and the gannet; seven ducks the black, golden-eye, old squaw and harlequin, with the American, king and Greenland eiders; three scoters; four geese snow, blue, brant and Canada; two phalaropes, several sandpipers, with the Hudsonian godwit and both yellowlegs; two snipes; five plovers; and the Eskimo and Hudsonian curlews.
In the male Merganser the enlarged portion of the trachea is furnished with an additional pair of muscles. Prof. Newton, 'Proc. Zoolog. In the male of the black stork there is also a well-marked sexual difference in the length and curvature of the bronchi. 'Elements of Comparative Anatomy, by R. Wagner, Eng. translat. 1845, p. 111.
Professor Ansted includes the Red-breasted Merganser in his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the Museum a male in full plumage and a female or young male. SMEW. Mergus albellus, Linnaeus. French, "Harle piette," "Harle étoilé," "Petit harle huppé."
It seems to me, as I said before, that these birds seek the more sheltered bays during wild squally weather more than the Goosanders do; not but what they can keep the sea well even in bad weather, but I have never seen or shot the Goosander close to the shore seeking smooth water, as I have done the Red-breasted Merganser.
RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Mergus serrator, Linnaeus. French, "Harle Huppé." Like the Goosander, the Red-breasted Merganser is a regular and by no means uncommon autumn and winter visitant to the Channel Islands.
Fish forms an inappreciable portion of their food, with the two notorious exceptions of the goosander and merganser, though anglers are much exercised over the damage, real or alleged, done by these birds to their favourite roach and dace in the Thames.
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