424 THE GAME BIRDS AND WILD FOWL 



Allied forms. The Velvet Scoter of Eastern Asia has heen specifically 

 separated from the Western bird under the name of (Edemia carbo. It possibly 

 breeds throughout Eastern Siberia, and winters off the coasts of China and Japan, 

 occurring apparently as an abnormal migrant in Alaska. (E. deglandi, an inhabi- 

 tant in summer of Arctic America from west to east, and in winter of the 

 Great Lakes and the Atlantic, and Pacific coasts as far south as the Gulf 

 of Mexico and Lower California. This Scoter also visits the Pacific coasts 

 of the Old World, and may be traced from Alaska, across the Aleutian Islands 

 to Kamtschatka, the Kuriles, Japan and China. This race should be looked 

 out for on the British coasts, especially in autumn. The Velvet Scoter and 

 these two allied species belong (as pointed out by Count Salvadori) to that 

 division of the genus (Edemia in which the length of the commissure is 

 much more than the length of the inner toe without the claw, and the 

 feathering of the head advances farther forward on the lores than on the 

 forehead ; the wing has also a white speculum. (E. carbo and CE. deglandi 

 are distinguished from (E. fusca by having the loral feathering separated 

 from the nostrils by a space much narrower than the length of the nostril. 

 In (E. carbo the lateral outlines of the bill are nearly parrallel, and the 

 knob on the bill of the male is very high, with the anterior outline concave, and 

 the upper one horizontal. In (E. deglandi the lateral outlines on the bill are 

 convex, and the knob on the bill of the male with the anterior outline sloping 

 backward. The female of (E. carbo is distinguished from that of (E. deglandi, 

 by having the frontal feathering almost transverse, as in the female of (E. fusca, 

 from which it is readily separated by the peculiarity of the loral feathering 

 already alluded to. 



Habits. The habits of the Velvet Scoter do not differ in many important 

 respects from those of the allied Common Scoter. It is, however, a bird more 

 addicted to inland waters, and even during winter, although commonly met with 

 at sea, often far from land, wanders up rivers and estuaries and visits lakes. Its 

 breeding grounds also are as a rule situated at greater distances from the sea, 

 and the nest is not unfrequently made a long way from any water at all. The 

 flight of this Scoter is rapid and well-sustained, but except on migration the bird 

 is Joth to take wing, and almost invariably seeks to elude danger by diving. In 

 the water it is extremely active, not only swimming well, but diving with 

 amazing speed, and going not only to a considerable depth in quest of food, but 

 for a long distance to escape an enemy, appearing again well out of harm's way. 

 It is seldom seen on land, and there its gait is waddling and clumsy, even for a 

 Duck. In more favoured winter quarters there is no doubt that the Velvet 

 Scoter congregates in large flocks, but in our seas it is rare to see more than a 

 small company together, and is usually met with in odd birds or scattered pairs 

 among flocks of the much more abundant Common Scoter. It appears in 



