618 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF NEW JERSEY. 



OIDEMIA, Plem. 



O. americana, Sw. & Rich. [Surf Scoter.] American Black Scoter. 



Male black ; basal part of bill yellowish ; female grayish 

 brown, paler below and on throat; bill all black. Length, 20 

 inches. 



*' Called ' coot ' and sometimes ' butter-bill.' Passes its time 

 at sea. This and the above arrive about November 1st, and 

 remain till April." 



O. deglandi, Bonap. {Melanetta velvdina — Abbott's Catalogue, O.fusca (L.), 

 Sw.) White-winged Scoter, or Coot. [White-v/inged Surf 

 Duck. Velvet Scoter (?)] 



0. deglandi and O./usca are separate species, according to 

 Ridgway, the latter being the velvet scoter, a European species 

 accidental in Greenland. The two species seem to have been 

 confounded by some previous writers. Our species has a much 

 narrower space between the nostrils and the loral feathering. 

 The male has the swollen lateral base of upper mandible un- 

 feathered, and sides of bill more reddish yellow. The plumage 

 is much as in the European form, black or brownish black, with 

 a white spot on wings and back of eyes ; female is sooty brown 

 or grayish, darkest above and with no white on head. Length, 

 22 inches. 



"Arrives off our coast about the middle of October, and 

 remains until the middle of April. Stays outside the beach 

 always, and spends much of its time swimming," 



O. perspicillata, L. [Pelionetta.) Surf Scoter. Surf Duck. Sea Coot. 



Forehead feathering extends further forward than the loral 

 feathering ; the sides of bill at base have a naked swollen 

 portion ; no white on wing ; male black, with red bill, black on 

 swollen portions of base ; a white spot on hind-neck, or OU' 

 forehead. Length, 21 inches. Female, bill dusky, hardly 

 swollen at base ; upper parts dusky ; lower parts grayish brown. 

 Length, 18i inches. 



" The ' coot ' is, like the above, an ocean-haunting species, and 

 is never found in the bays except when driven in by the storms."" 



