2122 



FLAMINGOES, DUCKS, AND SCREAMERS 



speculum on the wing. Widely spread along the more northern coasts of Europe 

 and Asia, this scoter is represented by a variety in North America. As another 

 very well-marked member of the genus, mention may be made of the North Amer- 

 ican surf scoter (CE. perspicillata} , of which stragglers occasionally reach Britain. 

 The male may be recognized in its breeding plumage by the presence of one broad 

 patch of white on the forehead and another on the nape of the neck. All the sco- 

 ters are regular migrants, and marine and gregarious in their habits; the common 

 species assembling in such countless numbers on the British coasts in winter, as on 

 some occasions to cause the water to appear literally black. Scoters generally arrive 

 from their summer quarters in September and October, and return in the following 

 April or May. During the breeding season the flocks of adults break up into pairs, 

 although this is not the case with the immature birds, which do not breed during 

 their first spring, but remain congregated throughout the summer. Moreover, in 

 the case of both the common and surf scoter, flocks of these immature birds fre- 

 quent the British Islands during summer, instead of going northward. All the 

 scoters are late breeders, the nidification of the common species not beginning in 

 Iceland till the middle of June, while in Arctic Russia it is deferred for a fortnight 

 or so later. Islands in the rivers and lakes of the Arctic tundras, where the ground 

 is covered with dwarf birch and willow, form the favorite breeding grounds for the 

 scoters; and the eggs, which are usually from five to nine in number, are deposited 

 in a mere hole in the ground, those of the common species being grayish buff in 

 color, with a dull exterior. Although rather awkward walkers, all the scoters fly 

 with rapidity, and are fully equal to their allies in swimming and diving. Their 

 food in winter consists of various small aquatic invertebrates, and in summer of water 

 plants; their flesh being almost uneatable. Remains of extinct scoters, which have 

 been referred to the genus Fuligula, used in a wide sense, occur in the Lower 



Miocene strata of France, which 

 have also yielded others belong- 

 ing to typical ducks and de- 

 scribed as Anas. 



The genus Eris- 

 The Stiff- 



.. . matura comprises 



Ducks species known as 

 stiff-tailed ducks, 

 all of which are lacustrine rather 

 than marine in their habits, and 

 many of which are characteristic 

 of the Southern Hemisphere. 

 While agreeing with the pre-. 

 ceding genera in their broad and 

 depressed beaks, these ducks are 

 distinguished by the feathers of 

 FERRUGINOUS STIFF-TAILED DUCK. the tail being narrow and very 



rigid, with the inferior surface 

 grooved. Moreover, the tail coverts are so-short as scarcely to overlap the base of 





