I50 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



is often able to get so nearly under water at the 

 flash of a gun that the shot injures it very little 

 if at all, 



Its food consists largely of mussels, and when 

 feeding on fresh water it prefers the fresh-water 

 clams to most other foods. Thirteen Massachu- 

 setts specimens were found to have eaten nearly 

 95 per cent, of mussels ; the remaining 5 per 



cent, of the stomach contents was composed of 

 starfish and periwinkles. It is a common belief 

 that all Scoters feed entirely upon animal food, 

 but this is not a fact. Along the Atlantic coast 

 they appear to subsist mostly on marine animals, 

 but, in the interior, vegetable food also is taken. 

 Edward Howe Forbush, in Game Birds, 

 IVild-Fou'l and Shore Birds. 



WHITE-WINGED SCOTER 



Oidemia deglandi Bonaparte 



.\. O. U. .X'uniber 105 .^ce L'ulor IMate 20 



Other Names. — Velvet Scoter ; Velvet Duck ; Lake 

 Huron Scoter : White-winged Surf Duck, or Sea Coot 

 or Scoter; Black White-wing; Black Surf Duck; Pied- 

 winged Coot; Uncle Sam Coot; Bell-tongue Coot; Bull 

 Coot; Brant Coot; Sea Brant; May White-wing; 

 Eastern White-wing ; .Assemblyman. 



General Description. — Length, male 23 inches ; 

 female 20 inches. General color of male, black; female, 

 brown above and gray below. Bill swollen at base over 

 nostrils and on sides ; feathers of lores come close to 

 nostrils. 



Color. — Adult M.vle: Black, paler below, more 

 brownish on sides ; a small white spot under and behind 

 eye; speculum ivhilc. formed by tips of greater coverts 

 and most of secondaries; bill, black at base and on 

 knob, a white space in front of knob; sides of bill red- 

 dish shading to orange on tip ; feet, orange or red with 

 black webs and joints; Iris, pale yellow. Ahult Fkm,\le: 

 .Sooty-brown above; pale grayish below; a large space 

 in front of and below eye, and another back of it on 

 side of head, whitish ; closely resembles the other two 

 female Scoters but can alwavs be distinguished bv the 



'ccliitc speculum: bill smaller than in male and grayish- 

 dusky ; feet, dull flesh color with black webs ; iris, dark- 

 Ijrown 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually concealed under 

 overhanging bushes, small spruces, or willows ; some- 

 times near salt water, at other times 2 or 3 miles from 

 the sea; a depression in the ground, lined with a little 

 grass and, alter the clutch is complete, with a little 

 down. E(;gs : 5 to 14, usually 7 or 8, pale salmon-bufif 

 or flesh color. 



Distribution.-- North Ainerica ; breeds from the 

 coast of northeastern Siberia, northern .Alaska, northern 

 Alackenzie, and northern Ungava south to central 

 British Columbia, .Alberta, northern North Dakota, and 

 southern Quebec ; winters on the Asiatic coast to 

 Bering Island. Japan, and China, and in North 

 .America from Unalaska Island to San Quintin Bay. 

 Lower California, the Great Lakes (casually to Colo- 

 rado, Nebraska, and Louisiana), and the .Atlantic coast 

 from the Gulf of St. Lawrence south (rarely) to 

 Florida ; non-breeding birds occur in summer as far 

 south as Rhode Island and Monterev, California. 



The White-winged Scoter, the largest of the 

 three dark-colored marine Ducks cotnmonly 

 called " Sea Coots " along the Atlantic coast and 

 readily distinguished from the other two by its 

 white wing-bars, is very fainiliar to gunners. 

 Toward the end of August flocks of adult males, 

 flying southward, begin to be noticed along the 

 New England coast. The lighter-colored females 

 and young are not due till about the middle of 

 October and later. Then there is a great pro- 

 cession of them past the headlands, flying swiftly 

 and low over the water. They stream bv in 

 single files, in wedge-shaped formation, or in 

 irregular columns, the three kinds being often 

 intermingled. 



The " coot shooters," starting out at the first 

 glimmer of dawn, or before, anchor their boats 

 in a line straight out from some headland, about 



a gunshot apart, and lie low. after anchoring out 

 wooden decoys in front. The Scoters, coming 

 swiftly on, may swing around the boats further 

 out to sea, or rise higher in the air. Often, how- 

 ever, trusting to their swiftness, they dash 

 through the line. Then the guns speak. On some 

 mornings when there is a big flight it sounds like 

 a regular battle. .Scoters are thickly armored, 

 however, with feathers, down, fat, and a tough 

 hide, and many a time I have heard the impact of 

 the shot on their bodies when there was not the 

 least visible effect. They fly more especially early 

 in the morning, but on lowery, windy days, par- 

 ticularly when a storm is brewing, T have watched 

 them pass by thousands all day long. 



Such big thick-set birds, floating rather high 

 on the water, make themselves quite conspicuous, 

 and are easily recognized. They like to gather 



