144 OIDEMIA NIGRA. 



and mixed with feathers. The eggs, which were ready to be 

 hatched, were eight in number, two inches in length, an inch 

 and five-eighths in breadth, of an oval form, smooth, and of 

 a uniform pale yellowish colour. I afterwards found a female 

 with seven young ones, of which she took such effectual care 

 that none of them fell into our hands. On several occasions, 

 when they Avere fatigued by diving, she received them all on 

 her back, and, swimming deeply, though very fast, took them 

 to the shore, where the little tilings lay close among the tall 

 grass and low tangled bushes. In this species, as in others, the 

 male forsakes the female as soon as incubation commences." 



Young. — M. Temminck states that " the young males 

 scarcely differ from the adult females, the colours being only 

 paler ; the space between the eye and the bill, the top of the 

 head, the occiput, nape and breast, of a deep brown ; the 

 space under the eyes, the sides and fore part of the neck, pure 

 white ; all the rest of the plumage of a sooty brown ; the base 

 of the bill raised ; the two mandibles of a livid brown, except- 

 ing the nostrils, which are flesh-colour ; iris brownish-grey ; 

 feet dull yellowish-green ; membranes blackish. The young 

 females always have the tints lighter. 



Remarks. — It appears strange that the trachea of this 

 species, which is so very closely allied to the Surf Scoter and 

 the Velvet Scoter, should differ entirely from them in being 

 destitute of the singular-looking dilatations for which these 

 are so remarkable. The trachea of the male Black Scoter, in 

 fact, differs from the simple trachea of the female only in 

 having the bronchi larger, and resembles that of female Ducks 

 in general. This would tend to show that no good generic 

 distinction can be obtained from the trachea. 



