Lophodytes cucullatus
Order Anseriformes
Family Anatidae
Subfamily Anatinae
♂ Adult male.— Head, neck, and upper back black, a broad white patch extending from back of the eye backward, with a narrow black border, forming a crest which is either erected or extended backward; two black bands before the bend of the wing; flanks reddish-brown; rest of under parts white; wing-patch and long feathers on the back white.
♀ Adult female.— Throat light; rest of head, with bushy crest, dull reddish-brown; rest of upper parts sooty-brown; wing with a white bar; flanks dark; rest of under parts white.
♂ Immature male.— Head and neck light brown; crest brownish-white, with brown edge; otherwise like female.
Nest, in holes in trees.
Eggs, white.
The Hooded Merganser breeds in some of the lakes in northern and eastern Maine, and in northeastern New Hampshire; elsewhere in New England and New York it is a rather uncommon migrant in October, March, and April, and a rare winter visitant. It occurs on inland streams and ponds, and is noted for the speed of its flight. The male can be confused only with the Buffle-head, but should be distinguished by the long slender bill, and by the fact that the white patch in the crown does not reach the top of the head, particularly when the crest is not erected. The Merganser’s flanks, moreover, are brown; the Buffile-head’s snowy white. The female has the characteristic merganser head, with a long bill and loose crest behind, but is much smaller than either of her relatives, the two following species.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)