Merganser

“ Sometimes the digestion of the fish's head has already commenced in the bird's stomach whilst the tail is still projecting from its bill.
The flight of the Merganser is rapid and prolonged, without reaching any great elevation. Their gait on land is awkward and tottering. They generally inhabit temperate regions during the winter, and in spring return to the high latitudes of both hemispheres, which are their breeding-places. ”

“ Although found in many inland districts, the favourite resorts of the Red-breasted Merganser are wild, rocky coasts, such as contain plenty of quiet bays and creeks, and lochs studded with islands. Waters where the bottom is sandy or rocky, are preferred to those in which it is composed of mud. Many birds of this species visit our coasts for the winter from more northern haunts, whilst some of those dwelling in Scottish waters draw southwards at that season. ”

“ The Hooded Merganser may be found along a quiet stretch of a small stream where the handsome males, at rest, do not display their high crests. In such mood the head has much the appearance of that of the other species of Fish Duck—thin, long, and snake-like. When rising, the birds beat their wings with amazing rapidity, the white speculum in the wings flickering brilliantly. This species is not so often found in swift water as are the Merganser and Red-breasted Merganser.
MALLARD
Anas platyrhynchos platyrhynchos Linnæus
Other Names.—Gray Mallard ”

“ For more than twenty years I have seen female mergansers on the Au Sable River all winter, and I have frequently seen them on the other Adirondack rivers; but I have never seen a male merganser in the winter, and in the late fall the males and females gather in separate flocks, and when the male mergansers appear in the spring they are always in flocks by themselves. ”

“ M. serrator, commonly called the red-breasted merganser, is a somewhat smaller bird; and, while the fully-dressed male wants the delicate hue of the lower parts, he has a gorget of rufous mottled with black, below which is a patch of white feathers, broadly edged with black. Both these species have the bill and feet of a bright reddish-orange, while the much smaller M. albellus, known as the smew, has these parts of a lead colour, and the breeding plumage of the adult male is white, with quaint crescentic markings of black, and the flanks most beautifully vermiculated. ”

“ The greater number of Red-breasted Mergansers killed in the Channel Islands which I have seen have been either females or males that had not assumed the full adult plumage—in fact, in that state of plumage in which they are the "Dun Diver" of Bewick; full-plumaged adult males do, however, occur as well as females and young males, or males in a state of change.
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. ”

“ Eye, bill and feet red, like those of the last species, but the head is crested on the male, as well as the female, and a band across his breast is mixed rusty and black streaks. The female has not as brightly colored a head as the female of the American Merganser, and the throat is not pure white. They can be distinguished in any plumage, from the fact that the nostril is nearer the eye than it is the tip of the bill, while that of the last species is located midway between the eye and the tip of the bill. ”

“ When the young are hatched the drake retires to moult, and the female brings them up unaided. Outside our islands this Merganser is widely distributed over the northern parts of Europe, Asia, and America, drawing southwards in winter. ”

“ It is of elegant form, smaller than the Merganser, being only fifteen inches in length. The plumage of the head is full, soft, and blended; the upper part of the head and nape elongated, forming a gradually narrowing crest; the wings short, rather narrow, slightly convex, and pointed—when closed reaching to within an inch and a half from the end of the tail. The male bird, at maturity, has a great spot of greenish black on each side of the bill, and a longitudinal one on the occiput. The tufted crest, neck, scapulars, small coverts of the wing, and all the lower parts are pure white ”

“ This species is larger than the red-breasted merganser, and is one of the largest of our ducks. It is one of the last to migrate south, and is more common than the red-breasted merganser on inland waters. ”

“ The head is always more or less crested; in most other respects they resemble the Diving Ducks, all the species seeking for their food by diving. The sexes differ in colour of plumage, but not, perhaps, to such a marked extent as in some other divisions of the Anatidæ. Six species of Mergansers are known to science, of which four are included in the British list—one as a rare visitor from North America. Of the remaining two species, one inhabits South America, the other the Auckland Islands. The young, as usual, are hatched covered with down, and able soon to follow the female to the water. ”

“ When Mergansers fly in company, as they frequently do, they range themselves in a certain regular order; they rise readily, but with a loud noise, splashing with their feet upon the water, and when they alight again in that element, fly obliquely downwards, and either at once dive or stop themselves by means of their outstretched tail. All the members of this family belong to the northern regions of our globe, but are met with pretty equally both in the eastern and western hemispheres. ”

“ They are able to accumulate a large quantity of air in the trachea, and can therefore remain some time under water without breathing. They take advantage of this for diving to the 260 bottom to seek their prey, and they will often travel to a considerable distance before they appear again on the surface. The activity they display in pursuit of their prey is very great; for, in order to accelerate their speed in swimming, they make use of their wings as well as of their feet. The Merganser is in the habit of swallowing fish head first ”

“ We see it in the male American merganser, where the lovely rich salmon color of the fresh bird becomes plain white. The emerald cuckoo of Africa has vivid rich yellow under parts when fresh, and this too becomes dingy white. Gray Canada jays become more - 166 - brownish. Birds that are olive or other shades of green tend to become more olive; brown birds tend to become more russet or foxy (hence the term "foxing") . We keep all our specimens in dustproof, lightproof metal cases. ”

“ The various Swans have a whooping, trumpet-like, or hissing note; that of Geese is a harsh cackle, a gaggling sound, a clang or a "honk." Ducks do not always quack, but have whistling or grating cries in addition. The usual food is vegetable, consisting of grass, Chara, Zostera, Ulva, and other plants; but Mergansers live chiefly on fish, and the bill of fare is varied by grain, pulse, berries, frogs, insect-larvae, worms, molluscs, and crustaceans. The nest is placed on the ground in thick herbage, or sometimes almost in the water ”

“ The mergansers, sheldrakes, or "saw bills," are fish eaters, catching their prey under water, where they move expertly, by means of the narrow, tooth-studded bill that reminds us of the ichthyornis. They frequent rivers, and most of them prefer rushing streams. Of our three species two breed only in the Far North, the third on the Pacific slope. During the winter they resort to a marine life in warmer latitudes. ”

“ On wing it has no rivals among Ducks. Our two smaller Mergansers, however, are swifter, although they exhibit none of the graceful movements every now and then shewn by the Green-wings, when coursing in the air over and around a pond, a river, or a large wet savannah. They rise from the water at a single spring, and so swiftly too, that none but an expert marksman need attempt to shoot them, if when starting they are many yards distant. While feeding, they proceed in a close body along the shores, or wherever the water is so shallow that they can reach the bottom with ease. ”

“ In the sounds that were not too deep one could see the fishing mergansers and divers, one or other of which would every now and then give full vent to its shrill, far-reaching cry—a cry so long-drawn-out and so varied in tone that one might call it a song, were it not rather a wild melody such as can only be executed by a child of the North Sea who has listened to the howling and blustering of winter storms, and has echoed the roar of the surging waves. ”

“ It was no longer in the power of Behram to avoid putting into the harbour, for he had no alternative but to be dashed to pieces against the frightful rocks that lay off the shore. In this extremity he held a council with his pilot and seamen. "My lads," said he, "you see to what a necessity we are reduced. We must choose one of two things; either to resolve to be swallowed up by the waves, or put into queen Margiana's port, whose hatred to all persons of our religion you well know. She will certainly seize our vessel and put us all to death, without mercy. ”

“ Now the ruler of this city was a queen called Merjaneh, and the captain said to Behram, 'O my lord, we have strayed from our course and come to the island of Queen Merjaneh, who is a devout Muslim; and if she know that we are Magians, she will take our ship and slay us to the last man. Yet needs must we put in here to rest [and refit] .' Quoth Behram, 'Let us clothe this Muslim we have with us in a slave's habit and carry him ashore with us, so that, when the queen sees him, she will think and say, "This is a slave." ”

“ When we had come up even with it we saw that it was a man in the long dark blue robes of the Tuareg.
"Give me your hand," said Morhange, "and brace yourself against a rock, hard."
He was very, very strong. In an instant, as if it were child's play, he had brought the body ashore.
"He is still alive," he pronounced with satisfaction. "Now it is a question of getting him to the grotto. This is no place to resuscitate a drowned man."
He raised the body in his powerful arms.
"It is astonishing how little he weighs for a man of his height." ”

“ A sentence came clear-cut from the dusty scrub by the logging-track.
"If any chap wants to know what Polson's says o' Mercury—it's rotten!"
Mercury Bay lies very near the top of New Zealand, and the geography books do not generally say anything about it. But because every inhabited patch of God's earth must stand sponsor at the Last Day for the passions of the men it has bred, Mercury has a value of its own, and, without any doubt, there will be a mixed account for it to render.
Gearing pulled himself upright, smearing the dust from his flat, pallid face and blue eyes. ”

“ Silver-gilt ripples were rising and falling along the coast and all over the bay. Now and then a fish would jump, scattering a shower of shining drops. Everything was very still around the Sea-nymph. She lay quite by herself at some distance from any other craft. There was no one on board but an old watchman, who was fast asleep. If he had been awake, he would have seen a long, bright ripple on the water coming nearer as some sea creature cut its way swiftly toward the new craft. It was our merman, who found himself drawn toward the land by a longing curiosity too strong for him to resist. ”

“ As Mercury was the prince of story-tellers, this offer was not to be despised, and Argus joyfully accepted; but instead of exerting himself to be entertaining, Mercury droned out such lengthy, uninteresting stories, that Argus soon closed half his eyes in profound sleep. Still talking in the same monotonous way, Mercury softly shook the poppies over the giant’s head, until one by one the remaining eyelids closed, and Argus was wrapped in complete slumber.
Then Mercury seized the giant’s sword, and with one well-directed blow severed his head from the huge trunk. ”

“ He [Don Quixote] spoke favorably of Morgante, who, though of gigantic race, was most gentle in his manners.—Cervantes, Don Quixote, I. i. 1 (1605) .
Morgause or Margawse, wife of King Lot. Their four sons were Gaw ́ain, Agravain, Ga ́heris, and Gareth (ch. 36) ; but Morgause had another son by Prince Arthur, named Mordred. Her son Gaheris, having caught his mother in adultery with Sir Lamorake, cut off her head.
Morgia ́na, the female slave, first of Cassim, and then of Ali Baba, “crafty, cunning, and fruitful in inventions.” ”

“ At once the Mercutians set up their government. The Earth was turned into a colony. The leader of the invaders, the son of the Mercutian emperor, became Viceroy, with absolute powers. Sooner or later, it was their intention to transport the entire Mercutian race to the Earth, and make it their permanent home. Mercury was not an ideal place to live on; in the restricted area around the poles where life was possible, terrific storms alternated with furnace droughts, to which the hottest part of the Sahara was an Arctic paradise. ”

“ I love animals, which I have solid reasons for preferring to men. But never should I have thought of doing what Morhange did then. I tell you that our water skins were almost dry, and that our own camels, without which one is lost in the empty desert, had not been watered for many hours. Morhange made his kneel, uncocked a skin, and made the little ass drink. I certainly felt gratification at seeing the poor bare flanks of the miserable beast pant with satisfaction. ”

“ The Sea-nymph snapped her cable, and drove out of the harbor before the tempest. The merman followed her. By the glare of the lightning he could see that the figure stood in its old place holding out her silver vase. “What wonderful courage!” he thought, for he did not know it was nailed there. The masts went crashing into the sea. The sailors threw overboard everything they could to lighten the ship. One of them sprang forward with an axe and began to cut away the figure-head. The merman swam, balancing himself on the crest of the waves; every one was too busy to notice him ”