134 



OIDEMIA FUSCA. THE VELVET SCOTER. 



VELVET DUCK. BLACK DUCK. WHITE-WINGED BLACK DUCK. 

 BLACK DIVER. DOUBLE SCOTER. 



Anas fasca. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 196, 



Anas fusca. Lath. Ind. Om. II. 848. 



Velvet Duck. Mont. Om. Diet. 



Canard double macreuse. Anas fusca. Temm. Man. d'Om. II. 854. 



Velvet Scoter. Oidemia fusca. Selb. lUustr. 11. 333. 



Oidemia fusca. Velvet Scoter. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 239. 



Oidemia fusca. Bonap. Comp. List, 57. 



Male with the hill protuberant, and sloping at the base 

 above, the rounded lateral protuberances partially feathered, 

 the base and margins of both mandibles black, the unguis of 

 both red, the sides of the upper orange ; inner side of the tar. 

 sus and toes orpiment orange, outer lake-red; plumage black, 

 glossed ivith blue and green above; outer secondary quills, tips 

 of their coverts, and a spot beloiv the eye ivhite ; tail of four- 

 teen feathers. Female with the bill dusky, its basal prominence 

 less elevated; the feet coloured as in the male: the plumage 

 sooty-brown, the breast and abdomen paler; outer secondaries 

 and tips of their coverts white; two ivhitish spots on each side 

 of the head. Young like the female. 



Male in Winter. — The Velvet Scoter, v^^hich is much 

 larger than the other species, and at once distinguishable by 

 the white band on its wings, has the body large and much 

 depressed ; the neck thick and of moderate length ; the head 

 large, oblong, compressed. 



The bill is nearly of the same length as the head, as high 

 as broad at the base, depressed and flattened toward the end, 

 which is rounded ; the upper mandible Avith a moderate pro- 

 tuberance at the base, its dorsal line rapidly sloping to beyond 



