NATATORES ANATIDyE FULIGULA. 335 



(7.) Bill broad, gibbous above the nostrils, the edges dilated; teeth coarse : nostrils large and elevated. 



Tail of 14 or 16 feathers. Oidemia. 



THE SURF DUCK OR COOT. 



FULIGULA PERSPICILLATA. 

 PLATE CXIV. FIGS. 253, 254. 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Anas perspicillata, Lin. p. 201, Black Duck, Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 556. 

 A. id. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol.8, p. 49, pi. 67, fig. 1. 

 F. (Oidemia) id. Bonaparte, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 389. 

 F. id. Audubon, B. of Am. Vol. 6, p. 337, pi. 402. 



Surf Duck. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 449. Nuttall, Man. Orn. Vol. 2, p. 416. Giraud, Birds of 

 Long island, p. 329. 



Characteristics. No mirror : feet red. Male, glossy black ; crown and nape marked with 

 white. Female, sooty brown ; near the bill, and auriculars, whitish. 

 Length, 19" 5. 



Description. Bill broad, short, as deep as wide at the base, flattened towards the tip, 

 which is rounded ; the edges turned outwards ; the lateral prominences black and naked ; 

 the central prominence feathered above. Nortrils submedial, pervious, and near the ridge. 

 Tarsus 1*6, compressed. Tail wedge-shaped, of fourteen stiff pointed feathers. 



Color. Male: Bill yellow, verging to orange towards the tip : a square black patch near 

 the base. Legs and feet yellow ; the webs dusky. A white heart-shaped spot on the crown, 

 beneath the eyes, and an oblong patch of the same on the nape. Remainder of the plumage 

 bluish black. Young male in change (fig. 254), sooty brown ; back and wing-coverts edged 

 with grey ; bill black ; two rounded ash-grey spots beneath the eye ; nape mixed with greyish 

 and black. Female, brownish black, darkest above ; the feathers on the breast and sides 

 edged with light greyish. 



Length, 19-0-20-0. 



The Box Coot, Spectacle Duck, Black Sea Duck or Butterboat-bill, is very common on 

 the coast of New- York during the winter, extending its migrations to the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 returning to the North in the spring. It breeds from Labrador northwardly ; the eggs are 

 cream-colored, and five or six in number. It occurs along the shores of the Arctic sea and 

 Northwest coast. Its flesh is coarse and fishy. The latitudinal range of this species is 

 included between the 24th and 72d parallels. Accidental in Europe. 



