ANATID.E THE SWANS, GEESE, AND DUCKS. 18l 



Migration in the Mississippi Valley" (p. 73), states that Mr. 

 C. W. Butler informed him that on May 2, 1883, he saw fifty 

 of these ducks at Anna, Union county, all busily engaged in 

 picking up millet seed that had just been sown. If no mistake 

 of identification was made in this case, the observation in ques- 

 tion apparently reveals a new feature in the habits of the species, 

 which has been supposed to feed exclusively in the water and to 

 subsist chiefly on fishes and their spawn and other aquatic 

 animal food. 



SrJBGENTis MELANITTA BOIE. 



Melanitta BOIE, Isis, 1822, 564. Type, by elimination, Anas fusca LINN. 

 Melanetta GEAT, 1840; List Gen. 1841, 95. BAIKD, B. N. Am. 1858, 805. 

 Maceranas LESS. Man. ii, 1828, 414. Same type. 



STJBGEN. CHAE. Feathers at the base of the bill extending forward almost to the nostril 

 in three prominent angles one on each side of the maxilla, the other on top, at the base of the 

 culmen; sides of the maxilla rather sunken or compressed above thetomium. Colors uni- 

 form black or brown, with a white speculum on the wings, the adult male with a white spot 

 immediately beneath the eye. 



This subgenus differs from Oidemia and Pelionetta in the form 

 of the bill, particularly in the outline of the feathering at the 

 base, as defined above. Three species only are known, one 

 peculiar to northern North America, one to northern Europe, 

 but occurring also in Greenland, and the other to northeastern 

 Asia. 



Oidemia deglandi Bonap. 



WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. 



Popular synomyms. American Velvet Scoter; Velvet Duck; White- winged Coot; Uncle Sam 

 Coot; Bull Coot; Assemblyman (Maryland). 



Anas fusca WILS. Am. Orn. viii, 1814, 137, pi. 72 (not of LINN.). 



Fuligula (Oidemia) fusca BONAP. Synop. 1828. 390,-sNuTT. Man. ii, 1834, 410. 



Oidemia fusca Sw. & HIGH. F. B.-A. ii. 1831, 449. 



(Edemia fusca COUES, Check List, 2d ed. 1882, No. 738. 



Fuligula fusca AUD. Orn. Biog. iii, 1835, 454, pi. 247; Synop. 1839. 280; B. Am. vi, 1843. 332, 



pi. 401. 

 ? Fuligula bimaculata HERBERT, Field Sports. 2d ed. ii, 1848. 366. flg. (young). 



Oidemia (Pelionetta) bimaculata BAIKD, B. N. Am. 1858, 808. 

 Oidemia velvetina CASS. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. v, 1850, 126. 



Melanetta velvetina BAIRD, B. N. Am. 1858, 805; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 601. BIDGW. 

 Nom. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 632.-B. B. & B. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 93. 



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