25 8 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



SCOTER. (Edemia nigra (Linnaeus). PL 30, figs. 5, 6. 

 Length, 20 in.; bill, 5-25 in.; wing, 9-5 in.; tarsus, 

 1-25 in. 



The name Scoter is probably a variant of Scouter 

 and Scout (O.F, escoute) in allusion, perhaps, to the 

 appearance of straggling parties of these ducks on 

 the coast before the arrival of the main body of 

 wildfowl.^ 



A winter visitant, occasionally remaining in Scot- 

 land till late in summer. Reported to have nested 

 in Caithness (ZooL, 1869, p. 1867) and Inverness- 

 shire ("Fauna of Sutherland and Caithness," p. 194). 

 Young birds in the down and the parent birds, shot 

 at the nest in Caithness, were seen in 1871 by A. G. 

 More at Small's, the birdstuffer, in Edinburgh. 



As to the alleged breeding of the Scoter in 

 Sussex on the Earnley Marshes, near Chichester, 

 see Zool, 1892, pp. 151, 228, and 1893, p. 151. 



In Iceland Mr. C. W. Shepherd found this bird 

 breeding in crevices of broken lava, and caught one 

 on the nest with a landing-net. 



The extent of the orange colour on the bill of 

 the adult male varies considerably. (See Gurney, 

 Zool, 1894, p. 292, with figures.) 



Weight, young male, 2 lbs. 5 oz. ; adult male, 

 2 lbs. 10 oz. ; female, 1 lb. 12 oz. 



1 Jolin Macky, in his account of the Bass Rock (" Journey through 

 Scotland," 1722, pp. 27-29) says : — " When the Solan geese are coming 

 they send some before to fix their mansions, which for that reason are 

 called Scouts." In Orkney the name Scout is applied to the Guille- 

 mot, q.v. 



