SURF SCOTER. 



SURF DUCK. PATCH-HEAD. HORSE-HEAD COOT. 

 SKUNK-HEAD. 



OlDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. 



Char. Male : general color deep black above, paler below ; a white 

 patch on the forehead and on the nape ; bill mostly orange red, with a 

 patch of black near the base of the upper mandible, bordered by orange 

 and pale blue ; lower mandible pinkish ; legs and toes orange, webs dull 

 green, claws black. Female : upper parts dusky or sooty brown ; under 

 parts grayish ; bill dusky ; legs and feet dull buff. Length about 19 

 inches. 



Nest. On the margin of a lake or sluggish stream, concealed amid a 

 tussock of rank herbage or beneath a low branch, — made of coarse weed- 

 stems and lined with down. 



Eggs. 5-8; pale buff or ivory white ; 2.40 X 1.65. 



This species of Sea Duck, with other dark kinds here com- 

 monly called Coots, may be properly considered as an Amer- 

 ican species, its visits in the Orkneys and European seas 

 being merely accidental. It breeds on the Arctic coasts, and 



