SURF-SCOTER. 75 



is leaden, and the basal knob but slightly developed. In both 

 sexes the legs are orange-red, but much brighter in the male. 

 The irides of the drake are greyish white, but in the duck and 

 immature bird they are brown. Length, 21 ins. Wing, 11 ins. 

 Tarsus, 2 ins. 



Surf- Scoter. (Edemia perspicillata (Linn.). 



The Surf-Scoter (Plate 28) is a North American bird, breed- 

 ing far north, and in winter migrating south by both overland 

 and coastwise routes. From time to time wanderers reach our 

 shores and consort with other scoters, from which, so far as 

 has been observed, they differ little in habits. The bird is 

 always a casual, but it has been more frequently detected in 

 the Orkneys and off the west coast than elsewhere. 



As in the eiders, a triangular feathered tract runs down the 

 centre of the swollen and rather massive bill towards the 

 nostrils. The basal protuberance is long and sloping and not 

 a knob. In the drake the bill is showy, shading from deep 

 red to orange and pale yellow ; on the sides are white spaces 

 and large squarish black patches. Even more distinctive and 

 conspicuous are a rectangular white mark between the eyes 

 and triangular white patch on the back of the neck ; the rest 

 of the plumage is glossy black. The duck is a brown but 

 variable bird, sometimes showing the neck mark more or less 

 clearly and occasionally two whitish spots on her pale brown 

 cheeks. Young males and old females have much in common, 

 but the distinctive male marks appear before the birds attain 

 glossy dress ; young birds of either sex have white under parts 

 mottled with brown. From the duck Velvet the female may be 

 told by the absence of the white wing bar, and from the Common 

 Scoter by the neck marks and facial spots. The bill of the 

 duck is dark olive ; the legs of the drake are reddish orange, 

 and the webs are dusky, but those of the female are dull 



