THIS is another very neat species. It belongs to North America, coming southwards from Hudson's Bay to the United States and Mexico, but has only occurred in Europe as a rare and occasional straggler. It has been observed in France.

It is not frequent along the coast, but prefers inland waters and smaller creeks or ponds to those which are larger.

In this country one of these birds was obtained near Yarmouth, Norfolk, in the winter of 1829. One in Suffolk; one at Benton Park, the seat of Anthony Ralph Biddulph, Esq.; and one near Bangor, in Wales, in

the winter of 1830-31.

Two specimens have been obtained in Ireland.

They arrive from the north in October, and go farther south according to the weather of the season. They make their retrograde movement from the beginning of March to the middle of May. They migrate in small flocks without any order.

The mother is very attentive to her young-the male leaving her as soon as she begins to sit. These birds generally go in small flocks of from five or six to

ten. They are, Audubon says, eaten by some persons, but this qualified mode of expression leads to the opinion that they do not by their innate excellence contribute much to "la haute cuisine."

They are extremely quick in flight, active in their movements, and most expert divers.

They feed on snails, tadpoles, and insects.

The note is represented by the syllables 'croo, croo,' repeated more or less frequently. Both birds utter it.

The nest, placed in trees, or, when these are wanting, in holes and hollows, in either case by the margins of lakes and rivers, is formed of grass and other herbage, lined with feathers and down from the breast of the mother-bird.

The eggs, eight or ten in number, and of a yellowish white colour, are laid in May, and hatched in June.

Male; length, one foot six or seven inches; bill, clear reddish brown, the tooth black; iris, golden yellow. The head on the crown is surmounted by a half-circular hood, from whence the name of the bird. It is spread out flat-wise or closed at pleasure. According to Wilson, the crest is composed of two separate rows of feathers, radiating from each side of the head, and easily separable. This hood, as well as the remainder of the head, is dusky black with purple and green reflections, with the exception of a large somewhat triangular-shaped patch or spot of pure white, bordered on the outside with black, behind the eye. This is more conspicuous when the crest is spread from about it. Neck, also dusky black, with metallic purple and green reflections. Breast, white, with two crescent-shaped streaks of greenish black, coming forwards on its upper part from the like colour on the back; the sides and flanks yellowish rust

colour, and finely pencilled with yellowish brown and black; back, deep dusky blackish brown.

Greater wing coverts, glossy greenish black, tipped with white, the bases also white; lesser wing coverts, deep brownish black. Primaries, deep brownish black. The secondaries deep brownish black, and having the outside borders white, are crossed with a bar of white, the bases also white; tertiaries, metallic greenish black, the shaft streaks white. Tail, brownish black. Legs and toes, clear reddish brown; webs, dusky.

The female is rather less in size. Length, not quite one foot and a half. The bill, which is slender, is clear reddish brown. Head on the crown, reddish brown, the feathers elongated at the occiput in a semicircular manner, verging into pale reddish brown; the remainder and the neck and nape, pale brown, the front of the neck paler, the edges of the feathers being lighter coloured. Chin, greyish white, speckled with pale brown; throat and breast above, brown, deeply margined with grey; below, white, the sides brown with paler edges to the feathers; back, brownish black.

The wings, when closed, only reach to within three inches of the end of the tail. The secondaries have the outside edges of the outer webs white, forming a small speculum. The tail consists of fourteen feathers, and is deep brown. Legs and toes, clear reddish brown.

The young at first resemble the female. The male obtains some white on the head in the second year, but is not complete in plumage till the third.

Mergus-A Diver. Serrator. Serra-A saw.

THE Merganser is a common bird in Europe-in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Iceland, and the Ferroe Islands, as also in Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy. It likewise is found in Asia, in Siberia, about Lake Baikal, and along the courses of the larger rivers, and eastward to Japan. In America it belongs to Greenland, the Fur Countries, the shores of Hudson's Bay, and Newfoundland.

They frequent the coast, its bays and estuaries, and the lower parts of rivers, namely, where they disembogue themselves into the sea, but sometimes advance upwards, and reach inland waters, though seldom beyond the influence of the tide. They breed, however, on fresh-water lakes.

In Northumberland these birds occur along the coasts, Holy Island and the Fern Islands being favourite localities; also along the shores of Durham.

In Lincolnshire the Rev. William Waldo Cooper shot one in the Ancholme, in the winter of 1853-4. In