100 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



specimens which appear to be fully adult (as No. 12727, ^, Washington, D. C. ; C. Drexler), 

 the white patch on the crown is entirely absent, that on the nape Ix-ing jiresent, as usual. An 

 example from Sitka (No. 4f;2GG ; F. Bischoff) has, in addition to the usual white patches (on 

 crown and nape), a white bar across the lower part of the foreneck, and a longitudinal streak of 

 the same on the ihin. Tlic bill, in fully adult examples, occasionally has other black markings 

 besides the large black spot near the base. Thus, No. 31727, Yukon River, Alaska, has a black 

 spot at the base of the culmeu ; in some others there is a small black spot on each side of the 



maxilla, near the end. Dr. Otto Finsch has 

 sent to Piofessor Baird drawings of the 

 head of a Scoter from Alaska, which is 

 quite different in many respects from any 

 example we have seen of P. iMrspicillata. 

 The bill is very different in shape from that 

 of the common species, being in every way 

 more slender, the greatest breadth of the 

 maxilla anteriorly being but .75 of an inch, 

 while the transverse diameter through the 

 base, which is but slightly swollen, is only 

 l.(X) inch; the length from the culmen is 

 about 1.35, to the loral feathers, 2.10; the 

 culmen is much less elevated above the 

 nostrils, and the tip of the bill less de- 

 pressed. The prevailing color of the bill 

 is black, the nail lighter, but across the cul- 

 men, just behind the nail, and continued 

 back in a narrow stripe, between the nos- 

 trils and the tomium, almost to the base, 

 is a mark (having somewhat this form, W) 

 of salmon-color or orange, becoming yellow 

 posteriorly. The head and neck are deep 

 black, with a longitudinal, cnneate, nuchal 

 patch of white, as in P. 2^^1'sficillata, and 

 the frontal spot is also distinctly indicated, 

 though somewhat broken by the admixture 

 of black feathers ; liut in addition to these 

 markings, the lores are covered by a large sub(|uadrate white patch extending from the lateral 

 base of the bill, for its entire length, back about .75 of an inch, almost touching the eye above ; 

 there is also a white ovate spot immediately above and behind the eye, and another of crescentic 

 form on the lower eyelid. The differences in the markings of the head would not alone be suffi- 

 cient to indicate more than a variation of plumage of the common species ; but the form and 

 coloration of the bill is so different as to suggest the possibility of the specimen being a hybrid 

 between P. perspicillatic and Melanetta fusca or velvetina. The wing, however, is said to lack the 

 white speculum oi Melanetta. 



The three examples (from San Diego, Cal.) upon which the P. Tro^rbridgii was based, differ but 

 little from some eastern specimens of P. 'pcrs]n(:illata, while other Pacific coast specimens, including 

 examples from as far south as the coast of Low(;r California, are unquestionably identical with the 

 eastern bird. 



Female, 



The Surf Duck is a poouliarly North American species, nearly identical, both as 

 to its habits and its distribution, Avith the Velvet Duck, both species being knoAvn on 

 the Atlantic coast to hunters and fishermen as Coots ; this term being used there as 

 a synonyme of the name " Sea Duck." The Surf Duck is generally known in New 

 England as the "Skunk-head Coot," and also to sonn; ])ersons as the "Hollow-billed 

 Coot." Its young and female, as well as the young and female of the Scoter ((Edemia 



