166 BLACK SCOTER. 



colouring is without lustre and soft , the base and 

 margin of the bill are black, the other parts bright 

 orpiment-orange ; inside of the tarsus carmine red, 

 toes orange red, the membranes black. In the 

 female the plumage is brownish black, paler on the 

 under surface, on the auriculars a patch of greyish 

 white ; the bill and legs have not the vivid colour- ' 

 ing of the male. According to Audubon, the young 

 much resemble the female during the first year, the 

 white spots on the head being apparent ; the feet 

 beginning to show their brilliant colour. 



THE COMMON OR BLACK SCOTER. (EDEMIA NI- 

 GRA. Anas nigra, Linn. (Edemia nigra, Flem.^ 

 Selby, Sec. Common or Black Scoter of British 

 authors. This species we consider in Scotland at 

 least as more uncommon than the last, and in our 

 boating excursions after wild-fowl, many years 

 since, in the Firth of Forth, we always found it 

 much more difficult to approach, and to attempt to 

 escape more frequently by diving. It is there a 

 winter visitant, and specimens may be occasionally 

 obtained in the Edinburgh markets. To the south 

 it is also principally a winter guest, but Mr. Yar- 

 rell states that birds are occasionally seen during 

 the summer months near the shores, and suspects 

 that they are birds which are either barren or have 

 not attained maturity, as in the case of the last 

 bird, thousands of sterile individuals of which, ac- 

 cording to Audubon, pass the summer in the Bay 



