456 VELVET-SCOTER. 



Highlands, but the evidence, though strong, is not yet conclusive. 

 On the east and south coasts of Ireland this species is not un- 

 common, but on the west side it is almost unknown. 



To the Faroes the Velvet-Scoter is a very rare wanderer ; while 

 it has not yet been obtained in Iceland, and only once in Green- 

 land. In Scandinavia and Northern Russia it is common on the 

 lakes of the interior during the summer, and Naumann states that it 

 occasionally breeds as far south as Mecklenburg. It visits the 

 Baltic and the waters of Western Europe in winter, and Lord Lilford 

 observed a small flock off Santander, in the north of Spain, 

 throughout May 1876 ; while some of its lines of migration southward 

 appear to run towards the Adriatic, the Black Sea, and the Caspian. 

 Our knowledge of its distribution in Asiatic Siberia is imperfect, but 

 it inhabits the eastern portions, and descends the coast as far as the 

 Yang-tse in winter. A single example has been obtained in Alaska, 

 but there and throughout North America the representative species 

 is QL. velvetina — a rather smaller bird, the male of which presents 

 some differences in the form of the bill. 



The nest, seldom made before the end of June, is placed in a 

 dry spot under some bush or tree, often at a considerable distance 

 from fresh water, and is lined with leaves and down. The eggs, 8-10 

 in number, are rather large and of a clear creamy-white : average 

 measurements 275 by 1-9 in. From its habit of diving in sound- 

 ings for the molluscs and crustaceans which form its principal food 

 in winter, the Velvet-Scoter is sometimes taken in the meshes of 

 sea-nets and also in those set for salmon. 



The adult male has the plumage velvet-black, except a small 

 white patch behind each eye and a conspicuous white bar across 

 each wing (which gives the bird when flying the appearance of an 

 old Blackcock) ; bill apricot-yellow, with an elevated black basal 

 tubercle, from which a narrow dark line runs diagonally above each 

 nostril to the nail and is continued backwards to the gape ; irides 

 white ; legs and toes orange-red, webs black. Length 22 in. ; 

 wing 1 075 in. Tlie female has the upper plumage sooty-brown, 

 and the under parts lighter ; a large dull white patch before — and 

 a smaller one behind — each eye ; the white alar speculum less 

 defined than in the male, and the bill dark lead-colour with a 

 smaller basal tubercle ; legs and toes dull red. The young are like 

 the female. 



