DUCKS 259 



VELVET SCOTER. (Edemia fusca (Linmeus). PL 30, 

 figs. 3, 4, 4a. Length, 22 in. ; bill, 1-9 in. ; wing, 11 

 in. ; tarsus, 1*25 in. 



On the east coast of Scotland an annual winter 

 visitant, less often met with on the east coast 

 of England. Mr. Gurney thinks it is accounted 

 rare from its habit of keeping out some miles at 

 sea and thus escaping observation. When crossing 

 from Dover to Ostend and from Harwich to Rot- 

 terdam, I have several times seen a few Velvet 

 Scoters associating with flocks of Common Scoters 

 in the proportion of about five per cent. They 

 could always be distinguished with a glass by 

 the white spot under the eye, and the white bar 

 across the wing. 



In Orkney the Velvet Scoter is an annual winter 

 visitant, arriving in September and October, re- 

 maining until the spring, and frequenting the 

 bays and firths, generally in flocks of from ten 

 to twenty. 



In Ireland, according to Mr. Ussher, there are 

 some twenty records of the Velvet Scoter from 

 various parts of the coast, the majority from the 

 bays of Dublin and Louth, while the west coast 

 seems to be very seldom visited by this bird. 



The colour of the legs and feet in the Common 

 Scoter and Velvet Scoter is very difi'erent, and is not 

 correctly described in the text-books. In the Com- 

 mon Scoter the legs and toes are green with the 

 interdigital membrane slate colour ; in the Velvet 



