ANATID^— THE SWANS, GEESE, AND Dt'CKS. 181 



Mif^ration in the Mississippi Valley" (p. 73), states that Mr. 

 C. W. Butler infornied him that on May 2, 1883, he saw fifty 

 of these ducks at Anna, Union county, all busilj' en^ao:ed in 

 picking up millet see^ that had just been sown. If no mistake 

 of identification was made in this case, the observation in ques- 

 tion apparently reveals a new feature in the habits of the species, 

 which has been supposed to feed exclusively in the water and to 

 subsist chiefly on fishes and their spawn and other aquatic 

 animal food. 



Subgenus MELANITTA Boie. 



Melanitta BoiE, Isls. 1822, 564. Type, by elimination. Anas fusca Linn. 



Melanetta Gbay, 1810; List Gen. 18)1, 95.— Baibd, B. N. Am. 1858, 805. 



Maceranas Less. Man. ii, 1828, 414. Same type. 



SuBOEN. Chae. Feathers at the base of the bill extending forward almost I o the nostril 

 in three prominent angles— one on each side of the maxilla, the other on top, at the base of the 

 culmen; sides of the maxilla rather aunkenorcompressedabovethetomium. Colors uni- 

 form black or brown, with a white speculum on the wings, the adult male with a white spot 

 immediately beneath the eye. 



This subgenus differs from Oidemia and Pelionetta in the form 

 of the bill, particularly in the outline of the feathering at the 

 base, as defined above. Three species only are known, one 

 peculiar to northern North America, one to northern Europe, 

 but occurring also in Greenland, and the other to northeastern 

 Asia. 



Oidemia deglandi Honap, 



WHITE- WINGED SCOTEB. 



Popular BynomymB, American Velvet Scoter; Velvet Duck; WhIte-wingedCoot; Uncle Sam 

 Coot; Bull Coot: Assemblyman (Maryland). 



Anut fusca Wn,8. Am. Orn. vlii, 1811, 1.37, pi. 72 (not of Linn.). 



Fuligula {Oidemia) faaca BoNAP. Synop. 1828. 390.— Nutt. Man. li, 1834, 4r.i. 



Oidemia/u.ica Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. il, 1831, 449. 



(Edemia fasra CooES, Check List, 2d od. 1882, No. 733. 



Fuligula/uaca AnD. Orn. Blog. ill, 183,j. 454, pi. 217; Synop. 1839, 280; B. Am. vl, 184.S, 3S2, 

 p).401. 

 :- FuKgula bimaculata Hebbebt, Field Sports, 2d ed. ii, 1848, 366, flg. (young). 



Oidemia {Pelionetta) bimaculata Baibd, B N. Am. 1858, 808, 

 Oidemia velvelina Cass. Proc. Acad. Nat. Hci. Phila. v, 18j0, 126. 



Melanetta velvetina Baibd, B. N, Am. I8.'»«, 8u5; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 601.— Ridow. 

 Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 632.-B. B. & K. Water B. N. Am. II, 1884, 93. 



