806 



U. S. p. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAI. REPORT. 



PELIONETTA PERSPICILLATA, Kaup. 



Surf Duck; Sea Coot. 



Jlnas perspicillala, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 176G, 201.— Forst. Pliil. Trans. LXH, 1772, 383.— Gmelin, I, 524.— 



Lath. Ind. II, 1790, 847.— Wilson, Am. Cm. VIII, 1814, 49 ; pi. Ixvii. 

 Melanilta pe.rspicilla'a, BoiE.Isis, 1822, 564. — Etton.Moh. Anal. 1838, 146. 

 .Snas (Fuligula) perspicillala, Bon. Obs. Wils. 1825, No. 265. 

 Fuligula (Oidemia) perspicillala, Bon. Syn 1828, 389.— Nuttali., Man. 11, 416. 

 Oidemia perspicillala, Fleming, Philos. Zool. 1822.' — Swainson, F. Eor. Am. II, 1831,449. — MACciL.Man. 11,181, 



Am. Sp.— Bon. List, 1838. 

 " Pelionetta perspicillata, Kaup," Reich. Icones Av. — Bonap. Comptes Rendus, XLIII, Sept. 185G. 

 Fuligula perspicillata, AcD. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 161 ; pi. 317.— Is. Syn. 289.— Ib. Birds Am. VI, 1843, 337 j 



pi. 402. 

 Black Duck, Pennant, II, 556. 

 Sp. Ch. — Male. Tail of 14 feathers. Bill but little longer than the head, the feathers extending forward half way from the 

 base to the tip, and opposite the posterior border of the nostril ; the bill abruptly decurved or gibbous anterior to the end of the 

 feathers ; nostrils open, nearly semicircular or stirrup shaped, the straight portion of the outline antero-inferior ; sides of bill 

 swollen at the base so as to be further apart above than below. 



Color, entirely black throughout, with a greenish lustre above, duller beneath ; a triangular white patch on the top of head, 

 the base extending between the posterior outline of the eye and reaching forward to a point a little beyond the posterior line of 

 the bill, the outlines rounded laterally and anteriorly ; the patcli is separatfd from the eye by a narrow superciliary black space. 

 There is a second triangular white patch beginning on the nape as a straight line the width of the other patch and running 

 backwards for more than two inches. These triangular spaces are thus base to base. 



Female. Bill as long as that of the male, but not swollen at the base, where the sides approach each other above ; the feathers 

 of forehead do not extend one third the distance Irom base to tip of bill ; the middle of nostril not quite as far as the middle of 

 the bill ; nostrils linear, acutely pointed anteriorly. 



Color brown ; lighter en the neck. Sides and beneath the under surface of the body whitish. An obscure whitish patch at 

 the base of the bill, and another on the side of the head behind the eyes. 

 Length of male, 19.00; wing, 9.40 ; tarsus, 1.63 ; commissure, 2.37. 

 Hab. — On and near seacoast of North America, quite far (outh in winter. Accidental in Europe. 



List of specimens. 



PELIONETTA TROWBPJDGII, Baird. 



Long'billcd Scoter. 



Sp. Cii. — Male. Bill decidedly longer than the head, the frontal feathers extending over two-fifths its entire length from base 

 to tip, and falling considerably behind the i)osterior border of the nostril. Nostrils ii|ioii, but ratlicr elongated and rcnniing out 

 anteriorly in an acute point. Culincn sloping gently from the base and in a straight lino with the lorchoad to the nail. 



