BIRDS — FULIGULINAE — MELANETTA VELVETINA. 



805 



A fifth species of Oidemia, jjrobably a Pelionetta, if distinct, is mentioned at the end of the 

 others as copied from the account of Herbert. If really Pelionetta, its diagnosis would be bill 

 black ; secondaries and eye patch white as in Melanetta. 



MELANETTA VELVETINA, Baird. 



Velvet Duck; >Vhite-wiiiged Coot. 



Jhius fusca, Wilson, Am. Orn. VllI, 1814, 137 ; pi. Ix.xii. Not of Linnaeus. 



.Inas (Fuligula) fusca, Bon. Obs. 1825, No. 266. 



Fullgula {Ohkmia) fusca, Bon. Syn. 1828, 390.— N^tt. Han. II, 1834, 419. 



Oidcmia fusca, Sw. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 449. 



/M^uia /iisca, AuD.Orn. Biog.lII, 1835, 454 ; pi. 247— Ib. Syn. 1839, 280.— Ib.- Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 332; 



pi. 401. 

 Oidemia velrctinn, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Oct. 1850, 12G. 

 Oidemia deglandii, Bon. Rev. Crit. Orn. Degland, 1850, 108.— Ib. Comptes Rendus, XXXVIII, 1854, Notes Orn. 



Delattre, 94. 

 Melanetta deglandii, Bon. Comptes Rendus, XLIII, Sept. 1856. 

 Double macreuse d'Jlmerique, Degi.and, Orn. Europ. II, 1849, 474. 



Sp. Ch — Male. Bill very broad, wider towards the tip than at the base ; feathers extending faralongthe side of the bill, and 

 on the forehead, for nearly half tlie commissure, running in an obiuse point about as far forward as the lower corner of the 

 outline of feathers on the side, both reaching nearly to the posterior border of the large, open, nearly rounded nostrils ; culmen 

 horizontal a little beyond the frontal feathers, then abruptly bent downwards, nearly perpendicularly, to the much depressed, 

 nearly horizontal portion ; a sharp indented ridge along the base of culmen, ending in a trihedral tubercle. Color black ; a 

 white elongated pitch around and a little behind the eye, and a large white speculum on the wing composed of white secondaries 

 and tips of greater coverts ; bill black at base and lateral edges ; red elsewhere. 



Female somewhat similar, but lighter beneath ; a large whitish patch on the side of the liead behind the eye, but none around 

 it ; wings with white speculum, somewhat as in the male ; bill also similar, but less swollen and elevated at base. Length, 

 21.50 inches; wing, 11.30 ; ta'-sus,2.08 ; commissure, 2.82. 



Hab. — Along both coasts of North America, to the north. 



The dates of publication of Oidemia velvetina of Cassin, and of 0. deglandii of Bonaparte, are 

 so near together as to render it difficult to say which should have priority. I have, however, 

 taken Mr. Cassin's as being more in harmony with a common vernacular name. 



The difierence of the American Velvet Duck from the European 0. fusca according to 

 Degland, Ornith. Europ. (II, 474,) consists in the greater extension of the feathers of the 

 forehead over the bill, causing it to appear shorter. The white spot of the lower eyelid is also 

 much larger, and more triangular in shape. 



List of specimens. 



