SCOTER DUCK. 423 



The American Scoter is about 19 inches in length ; bill from the 

 rictus 2 inches ; the wing 8J inches ; tarsus about 1 inch 2 lines j 

 the middle toe 3 inches. Male in color and size closely resembling 

 F. nigra, except in the bill, in which the sides of the nail at the end 

 of the upper mandible are suddenly narrowed. The whole of the 

 basal protuberance orange, this color not extending beyond the 

 nostrils. In a youngish male, which I have examined, the basal 

 protuberance is scarcely elevated, orange, at the base bright yellow. 

 The 1st quill very much and suddenly narrowed for near upon 2 

 inches, and the 2d and 3d nearly equal and longest. Legs and feet 

 wholly black. 



SCOTER DUCK. 



(Fuligula nigra, Bonap. Synops. No. 334. Anas nigra, Linn. Gmel. 

 sp. 7. Lath. Ind. ii. sp. 43. Temm. ii. p. 856. Wilson, viii. p. 

 135. pi. 72. fig. 2. La Macreuse, Buff. Ois. ix. p. 234. t. 16. PI. 

 Enlum. 978. Scoter, Penn. Arct. Zool, No. 484. Ib. Brit. Zool. 

 p. 153. tab. Q. 6. [a good figure of the male]. Phil. Museum, No. 

 2658.) 



Sp. Charact. — No speculum; feet dusky; a protuberance at the 

 base of the bill ; middle of the upper mandible yellow ; nostrils 

 below the middle of the bill. — Male glossy black ; a large orange- 

 red protuberance at the base of the bill. Female sooty-brown, 

 beneath greyish-white 



The Scoter, or Black Duck is another of those marine 

 species which inhabit the high boreal latitudes of both con- 

 tinents, from whence at the approach of winter they migrate 

 in swarms to warmer or more moderate climes. Along the 

 coast of the United States, over which they extend to the 

 extremity of the Union, they are commonly associated with 

 their kindred species, the Velvet Duck. In winter they are 

 common in the sounds and bays in the vicinity of New York 

 ^.^ well as in the Bay of Chesapeake, and are perpetually 



