iS93.] Tri'mbull, Our Scoters. ^^7 



be<^innirig of inucli of our confusion. In 'Fauna Boreali-Aiueri- 

 cana,' 1831, our bird is fully recognized as a distinct species, but 

 Wilson's plate (which was certainly not colored from any* speci- 

 men found in our country) is referred to as follows : "It is clear 

 from an inspection of Wilson's plate, that the true O. nigra is 

 also found in America, since the coloring he has given to the bill 

 perfectly accords with the Englisli specimens in the British Mu- 

 seum." This was a most natural conclusion, and when in 1834 

 Nuttall's 'Water Birds' appeared, it included both species as oc- 

 curring along our coast, i. e. "Scoter Duck" {nigra) and 

 "American Scoter Duck" {afncricana) . 



White-winged Scoter (O. deglandi) and Surf Scoter 

 (O. perspicillata). 



I place what I have to say about these two species — or about 

 their descriptions — under a common headline for convenience in 

 presenting some of my more fragmentary notes. 



In Wilson's work. Vol. VIII, 1814, the male of deglandi (be- 

 lieved by all at that time to be identical with the European 

 variety O. fusca) is represented as having the upper mandible 

 black at base, "the rest red." Its bill has been referred to in our 

 own half of the century also, as "black at base and lateral edges; 

 red elsewhere." The writer of this last description probably got 

 the idea of so uniform a red from Wilson, but where on earth did 

 Wilson get it.'' Surely not from nature. Another writer has 

 lately described deglandi in a fashion as original. He says: 

 "Knob on bill black, rest of bill and legs orange." It will be 

 observed that though this later author has chosen a less san- 

 guinary hue than his predecessors, he has carried it considerably 

 farther, continuing it over the legs as well as beak.* 



*The colors of the bill and feet (of adult male deglandi) are in reality as follows :• — 



Upper mandible: immediately at base black, this black spreading forward over the 

 elevated portion or knob and continued along the edges of the mandible, sometimes 

 as far as the nail, and sometimes disappearing brokenly before reaching it; sides 

 purplish red, or wine-purple, changing to orange next to the basal black; nail orange, 

 but of a somewhat deeper tint; from nail to knob white; the middle of the bill, in 

 other words, being broadly white from the nail to the black between the nostrils. 



Lower mandible : with patch of orange (including nail) at end; back of the orange, 

 white, this white meeting irregularly with basal black which is extended in a some- 

 what varying degree toward the gonys. 



Feet: side of tarsus and toes, excepting inner toe, dull purplish pink or light wine- 

 purple; the inner side (or side next to the other foot), with both sides of the inner toe, 

 orange-verroilion ; joints and other portions splashed with black ; webs solidly black. 



