BIRDS — FULIGULINAE — OIDEMIA AMERICANA. 



807 



Color entirely black with a greenish gloss above ; a very small triangular wliite palrli on tlie forehead reaching forward to the 

 beginning of the bill, the posterior extremity considerably anterior to the eye ; a very broad triangular wliite patch on the nape, 

 the feathers much longer and softer tlian elsewhere. Length 23.00 ; wing, 9.80 ; tarsus, 1.80 ; commissure, 2.72. 



Hab. — Coast of southern California in winter. 



This species is much like 0. perspicillata, but is larger. The hill is more like thcit of the 

 female 0. perspicillata than of the male. It is longer and rather narrower, less swollen at the 

 base. The frontal feathers do not extend so far ibrward, falling considerably behind the nostrils. 

 The culmen is in a line with the forehead to the end of nostrils, instead of descending abruptly. 

 The nostrils are narrower, more elongate and acute anteriorly. The white patch on the head 

 is very much smaller and anterior to the eye, instead of coming back to the line of the posterior 

 canthus. The nuchal patch is larger, broader, fuller and softer. 



List of specimens. 



OIDEMIA AMEEICANA, Swain son. 



Scoter. 



Anas nigra, Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 135; pi l.'cxii. Not of Linnaeus. 



Anas {FuUgula) nigra, Bon. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 267. 



Fidigula (Oidemia) nigra, Bon. Syn. 1828, 390. 



Oidemia americana, Swainson, F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 450. — Bon. List, 1838. 



Melaneila americana, Eyton, Mon. Anat. 1838, 144. 



FuUgula americana, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 117; pi. 408.— Ib. Syn. 290.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 343; pi. 403. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. Tail of sixteen feathers. Bill much swollen on the basal third; the basal portion of culmen convex and 

 rapidly descending ; the terminal portion of bill much depressed ; the anterior extremity of nostrils half way from the lateral 

 or upper feathers at the base of bill to the tip. The swelling at base of bill divided by a furrow along the median line. The 

 frontal feathers extend slightly forward in an obtuse point. Bill of female not very dissimilar, lacking the swelling at the base. 



Color entirely black all over, without any white. Bill black along the edges and tip ; the swollen basal portion red to beyond 

 the nostrils. 



Female. Brown ; lighter on sides of head, throat, and under surface of body, where the feathers have each an obscure dusky 

 spot. 



Length, 23.80 ; wing, 9.20; tarsus, 1.78; commissure, 2.14. 



Hab. — Seacoast of North America. 



According to Degland, (Orn. Europ. II, 472,) the American scoter differs from the European 

 in having the bill broader, the gibbosity less elevated, wider, and entirely orange from the 

 frontal feathers to the nostrils : while in A. nigra the yellow begins only at the base of the 

 tuberosity, surrounds the nostrils, and occupies only the centre of the middle portion of the 

 bill. The basal protuberance, too, in the American bird is single, with a median sinuosity ; 

 while in the European it is formed by two hemispheres, separated by a furrow. 



