THE AMERICAN SCOTER. 



HE specimen we give of the 



t I American Scoter is one of 

 oj I unusual rarity and beauty of 



-^ plumage. It was seen off the 

 government pier, in Chicago, in No- 

 vember, 1895, and has been much 

 admired. 



The Scoter has as many names as 

 characteristics, being called the Sea 

 Coot, the Butter-billed, and the Hollow- 

 billed Coot. The plumage of the full 

 grown male is entirely black, while 

 the female is a sooty brown, becoming 

 paler below. She is also somewhat 

 smaller. 



This Duck is sometimes found in 

 great numbers along the entire Atlan- 

 tic coast where it feeds on small shell 

 fish which it secures by diving. A 

 few nest in Labrador, and in winter it 

 is found in New Jersey, on the Great 

 Lakes, and in California. The neigh- 



borhoods of marshes and ponds are its 

 haunts, and in the Hudson Bay region 

 the Scoter nests in June and July. 



The nest is built on the ground near 

 water. Coarse grass, feathers, and 

 down are commonly used to make it 

 comfortable, while it is well secreted 

 in hollows in steep banks and cliffs. 

 The eggs are from six to ten, of a dull 

 buff color. 



Prof. Cooke states that on May 2, 

 1883, fifty of these ducks were seen at 

 Anna, Union county, Illinois, all 

 busily engaged in picking up millet 

 seed that had just been sown. If no 

 mistake of identification was made in 

 this case, the observation apparently 

 reveals a new fact in the habits of the 

 species, which has been supposed to 

 feed exclusively in the water, and to 

 subsist generally on fishes and other 

 aquatic animal food. 



