148 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



on side of head with pale sea-green, and on breast with 

 creamy-brown ; top of head and back of neck, pearl- 

 gray; eyelids and spot bcloxv eye, black: rest of plum- 

 age, deep brownish-black, including the long inner 

 secondaries ; a black V-shaped mark on chin ; bill, red- 

 dish-orange, the enlarged part surrounded in front, on 

 top. and rear with a black border ; tip, white ; feet, yel- 

 lowish-orange with dusky webs ; iris, brown. Adult 

 Female: Hardly separable from other female Eiders in 

 coloration, but easily distinguished by the shape of bill; 

 the bill, yellowish, dusky at end, with white tip. 



Nest and Eggs. — Xest: In depressions of ground 

 or among rocks; composed entirely of down. Eggs: 



Usually 6. but sometimes more, light olive-gray to 

 grayish-green. 



Distribution. — Northern part of northern hemi- 

 sphere ; breeds along the whole coast of northern 

 Siberia, Bering Sea, and Arctic coast of America from 

 Icy Cape east to Melville Island, Wellington Channel, 

 northern Greenland, northwestern Hudson Bay, and 

 northern Ungava ; winters on Pacific coast from 

 Aleutian Islands to Kodiak Island, in the interior rarely 

 to the Great Lakes, and from southern Greenland 

 and Gulf of St. Lawrence south regularly to Long 

 Island, rarely to Georgia; accidental in California and 

 Iowa. 



The King Eider is an arctic species and its 

 habits resemble those of the common Eider. It 

 is a deep-water Duck, feeding mostly on mussels. 

 The female lines her nest with down, as do the 

 other sjjecies, and it forms part of the eider- 

 down of commerce, which is gathered by the 

 natives in (ireenland. 



The raised frontal processes at the base of the 

 bill, which adorn the head, develop immensely in 

 the breeding season, bulging high above the rest 

 of the bill. These processes are soft, and are 



supported uj)on a mass of fatty substance. They 

 shrink and become more depressed in winter, 

 when the general formation of the beak is not 

 much diiTerent from that of other Eiders. The 

 female, however, does not resemble the male, and 

 is not easily distinguished in the field from that 

 of the American Eider. When in hand, the 

 general resemblance of the bill and the head 

 feathering to that of the male may be noted. 

 Edward Howe Forbush, in Game Birds, 

 IVild-Fozd and Shore Birds. 



SCOTER 

 Oidemia americana Swainson 



.■\. O. U. Xumber 163 See Color Plate 20 



Other Names. — Males: Black Scoter; Sea Coot; 

 Black Coot; Black Sea Coot; Fizzy; Broad-billed Coot; 

 Hollow-billed Coot; Pumpkin-blossom Coot; Booby; 

 Butter-bill; Black Butter-bill; Butter-billed Coot; But- 

 ter-nose; Copper-bill; Copper-nose; Yellow-bill. Fe- 

 males: Brown Coot; Gray Coot; Smutty Coot. 



Description. — Length, male 21 inches; female 17 

 inches. Adult M.\le: Entirely black, less glossy below ; 

 bill, black, with a yellow protuberance at base ; feet, 

 dusky; iris, brown. Adult Female: Sooty-brown, 

 paler below, lightening on abdomen, with dusky speck- 

 ling ; sides and flanks waved with dusky ; throat and 

 sides of head, distinctly whitish ; bill, dusky and not 

 peculiar ; feet, dull olive with black webs ; iris, brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On ground near water; 

 made of coarse grass, feathers, and down. Eggs: 6 to 

 10, ])ale liuff. 



Distribution. — Northern North America and eastern 

 Asia ; breeds in northeastern Asia and from Kotzebue 

 Sound to Aleutian Islands, including Near Islands ; also 

 on west shore of Hudson Bay, Ungava, and New- 

 foundland ; winters on Asiatic coast to Japan and from 

 islands of Bering Sea south rarely to Santa Catalina 

 Island, California; in the interior not rare on the Great 

 Lakes, and casual or accidental in Missouri, Louisiana, 

 N^ebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming ; on the Atlantic 

 coast abundant during migration from Newfoundland 

 and Maine south, but rarely as far as Florida. 



We have no means of knowing the early his- 

 tory of any one of the Scoters as they all were 

 generally grouped together as " Coots " or 

 " Black Ducks " by the early historians. The 

 Scoters or " Coots," as they are called by the 

 gunners and fishermen, are typical diving Ducks. 

 They are very muscular and powerful in build. 

 The bony framework is strong, the skin tough. 



and the feathers strong, coarse, and very firmly 

 attached to the skin. The whole strticture seems 

 to be formed to resist the tremendotts water 

 pressure that they encounter while diving at 

 great depths. Fishermen, both along the Massa- 

 chusetts coast and in the lake region of ^^'iscon- 

 sin. have told me that they have taken these 

 diving Ducks in nets set from 50 to 100 feet 



