AMERICAN SCOTER 195 



white on wing or side of head, and under surface of body (including cheeks 

 and chin) continuously pale colored, not broken into patches. 



Voice — "A musical whistle of one prolonged note" (Mackay, 1891b, p. 284). 



Nest — On ground, sometimes hidden in cliffs or in hollows of steep banks; 

 made of dry leaves, grass, feathers and down. 



Eggs — 6 to 10, ovate to elliptical ovate, measuring in inches 2.42 to 2.68 by 

 1.79 to 1.81 (in millimeters, 61.5 to 68.0 by 45.5 to 46.0), and averaging 2.55 

 by 1.80 (64.9 by 45.7) (five eggs in U. S. National Museum); color pale ivory 

 yellow; surface smooth but not glossy. 



General distribution — Northern North America and eastern Asia. In 

 North America breeds from Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, south to the Aleutian 

 Islands and also on west shore of Hudson Bay, in Ungava and Newfoundland, 

 but unknown in the district from Yukon Territory to Hudson Bay. Winters 

 on the Pacific coast from Bering Sea south to southern California; in the 

 interior sparingly on the Great Lakes and casually south to Louisiana; and 

 on the Atlantic coast from New^foundland to Florida. Non-breeding birds may 

 remain during the summer as far south as Rhode Island and central California 

 (modified from A. O. U. Check-list, 1910, p. 81; Cooke, 1906, pp. 59-60). 



Distribution in California — Rare winter visitant coastwise. Restricted to 

 salt water. The following instances of occurrence are knovra: Areata Bay, 

 Humboldt County, February, 1914 (F. J. Smith, MS) and December 24, 1915 

 (Mus. Vert. Zool.) ; San Francisco (Newberry, 1857, p. 104); San Francisco 

 Bay near Redwood City, San Mateo County, January 17, 1909 (Littlejohn, 

 1912, p. 41); off Point Pinos, Monterey County, November 1 and 4, 1909 (Beck, 



1910, p. 69) and October 27, 1910 (Beck, MS); Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo 

 County ( A. K. Fisher, 189.3a, p. 18) ; San Luis Obispo, spring, 1866 (Richmond, 

 1916, p. 83) ; Santa Barbara (Cooper, 1887, p. 87) ; coast of Los Angeles County 

 and Santa Catalina Island (Grinnell, 1898, p. 12). 



The American Scoter is a bird of the subarctic sea coasts and even 

 in those regions is abundant only locally. On the Pacific coast it 

 breeds from the Aleutian Islands north to Kotzebue Sound and north- 

 eastern Alaska. The American Scoter is the least common of the 

 three species found in early spring in southeastern Alaska (Swarth, 



1911, p. 44). During, the winter it migrates southward in small num- 

 bers as far as California. Non-breeding birds are occasionally recorded 

 from the winter range during the summer. First spring arrivals have 

 been noted at St. Michael, Alaska, on May 16, and at Kotzebue Sound 

 on June 3. On the coast of California records are too infrequent to 

 warrant statements as to times of migration. There are no interior 

 records for this state. 



Scoters really deserve the name of "black ducks" for they are cer- 

 tainly the blackest of their tribe. From their habits they are often 

 called "Scooters." Typical sea ducks, they are to be found almost 

 entirely on salt water. All three species associate together more or 

 less, and are of about the same size and general behavior, so that they 

 would be difficult to distinguish were it not for certain prominent field 

 marks that make identification of the males fairly easy. The male 



