<i>Mergellus albellus</i>. "A small merganser or fishing duck...The male in adult plumage is a very beautiful bird, of a pure white, varied with black and gray, and tinged with green on the crested head; the length is about 17 inches. The female is smaller, with reddish-brown and gray plumage, and is called the red-headed smew." &mdash;Whitney, 1889

Smew - A Merganser or Fishing Duck

Mergellus albellus. "A small merganser or fishing duck...The male in adult plumage is a very beautiful…

"Mergus merganser. Merganser. Goosander. Nostrils near middle of bill. Frontal feathers extending acutely on culmen about half way from those on side of bill to nostrils; loral feathers sweeping in nearly vertical line across side of base of upper mandible, about opposite those on side of lower mandible. Head scarcely crested, merely a line of little lengthened feathers along occiput and nape, better developed, however, in female than in male. Adult male: Bill and feet vermilion-red in breeding season, with black hook; iris carmine. Head and neck splendid dark green. Under parts salmon-colored, the flanks and lower belly marbled or watered with dusky. Upper parts glossy-black, fading to ashy on rump and tail; surface of wing mostly pure white, crossed by a black bar formed by bases of greater coverts. Primaries and outer secondaries black, intermediate secondaries white, inner secondaries and scapulars black and white. Female: Bill red with dusky culmen, iris yellowish, feet chrome or orange with dusky webs, crest better developed than in male; still flimsy, however long. Head and neck reddish-brown; throat white; under parts less salmon-tinted. Black parts of the male ashy-gray; scapulars without white; white of wing restricted to secondaries and greater coverts, which are black at base; smaller coverts ashy." Elliot Coues, 1884

Merganser

"Mergus merganser. Merganser. Goosander. Nostrils near middle of bill. Frontal feathers extending acutely…