Surf Scoter 63 



Description. — Male — Plumage black throughout, less glossy below ; 

 a white patch on the wing and a small white spot below and behind 

 the eye ; iris white ; frontal feathers encroaching on the bill along 

 the culmen to a level with the nostrils, which are in the anterior half 

 of the bill ; on the sides to a less extent, so that the line of the base of 

 the bill is much curved ; bill black at the base and sides, front part 

 of knob and tip orange ; legs orange with black webs and joints. 

 Length 22-0; wing 11-5; tail 3-25; cuknen 1-8; tarsus 2-0. 



The female is sooty brown above, paler below and retains the white 

 speculum and has indistinct whitish patches on the face ; iris dark 

 brown, bill less swollen and black throughout, feet fleshy but with 

 black webs. 



Distribution. — Breeding from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and North 

 Dakota to the Arctic coasts, and on the Pacific coasts of British 

 Columbia and Alaska ; south in winter to Lower California and South 

 Carolina on the coasts, and to the Great Lakes and prairie States 

 in the interior. 



A rare winter visitor, chiefly in October and November to north-east 

 Colorado. Some nine instances are recorded from lakes near Denver, 

 Loveland, and Fort Collins, all in October or November. There is 

 a specimen shot at Lasalle, near Greeley, October 24th, 1904, and 

 presented to the State Museum at Denver by H. G. Clark, and Aiken 

 tells me he has examined an example shot on a reservoir near Skinners, 

 south of Colorado Springs, in October, 1907, by Johnson of Denver. 

 This last is the most southern record for the State. 



Surf Scoter. Oidemia perspicillata. 



A.O.U. CheckUst no 166 — Colorado Records — H. G. Smith 96, p. 48 ; 

 08, p. 184 ; Cooke 97, pp. 57, 196 ; 06, p. 62. 



Description. — Male — General colour glossy black, duller below, no 

 white on the wings, but a triangular patch pointing forward on the 

 forehead, and another on the nape pointing back. Iris pearly white ; 

 frontal feathers extending forward along the culmen nearly or quite 

 to the nostrils, but not at all on the sides ; bill swollen on the sides, 

 coloured white, orange, red and black, the latter forming a rounded 

 spot at the base of the upper mandible ; feet orange-red with dusky 

 webs and joints. Length 21-0; wing 9-25; tail 3-40; culmen l-S; 

 tarsus 1'63. 



The female is sooty brown, paler silvery-grey below, with a whitish 

 loreal and auricular patch. Iris yellowish-white ; bill hardly swollen, 

 blackish throughout; feet dusky orange with dusky webs; wing 8.50. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Quebec Province and from Sitka 

 north to the Arctic coast ; in winter along the coasts to Lower 



