Ornithological biography, Vol. 4 (of 5) : $b An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of AmericaAudubon, John James
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Ornithological biography, Vol. 4 (of 5) : $b An account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America
Audubon, John James
Birds -- North America
This species may be said to be a constant resident with us, as
many individuals breed in the interior of the States of New York,
Massachusetts, and Maine. When I first resided in Kentucky, some bred
there also, although at the present day none pass the summer in that
country. In the latter part of autumn, in winter, and in early spring,
they are found in all parts of the Union; in Texas I procured some in
April 1837, and in the beginning of May saw a considerable flock in
Galveston Bay. How much farther southward their migrations extend I
know not, but from having observed them coming from that direction,
I suspect that they advance pretty far into the interior of Mexico,
from which some perhaps cross to the Arkansas River, on which I have
also seen them. On the Mississippi, the Ohio, and their tributaries,
Goosanders are found during the coldest weather; and when the larger
streams are covered with ice, they betake themselves to such smaller
creeks as have very rapid currents or cascades, about which they feed.
But there are parts of our southern coast, where they are exceedingly
rare, such as South Carolina, where my friend Dr BACHMAN has never seen
one, and the Floridas, in which none occurred to me during my rambles
there. Indeed one is surprised to find that among birds like this,
which is so hardy as to remain in our North-eastern States during the
severest part of the winter, some should extend their movements at the
same season as far to the south-west as Texas; but facts like these are
beyond our philosophy. In the lower parts of Louisiana, this species is
called the “Bee-scie-de-mer,” probably because there it is found only
on the large salt-water lakes, and about the mouths of the Mississippi,
and to distinguish it from the Hooded Merganser, which there is
more usually seen on fresh water. I have been assured by Professor
MACCULLOCH of Pictou that it now and then breeds in Nova Scotia. Yet I
found none in Labrador or Newfoundland, where the Red-breasted species
was breeding in great numbers. Dr RICHARDSON found it in abundance in
the Fur Countries.
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