214 WATER FOWL. 



picking a few individuals of this Coot is no joke, usually 

 resulting in sore fingers. 



Where a flock is flying too high for a successful shot, 

 it can sometimes be brought within range by discharg- 

 ing a gun at it, and at the report, the birds will often 

 make a sudden plunge downward in the direction of the 

 water, coming near enough to the sportsman for him to 

 kill some of them. The Scoter, as has been said, is a 

 skillful diver, and will frequently go to the bottom, where 

 the water is fifty feet deep, and, if wounded, stay there. 



This Duck has many names among the sportsmen and 

 gunners, some of the best known being, Velvet Duck, 

 Velvet Scoter, White-winged Surf Duck, Coot, Black 

 Surf Duck, etc. It is also the Lake Huron Scoter de- 

 scribed by Herbert (Frank Forrester) from an immature 

 bird, and although the young, when it has fed perhaps 

 upon such diet as the inland lakes afford, is not (as I 

 know, for I have shot numbers of them in such waters 

 myself) as fishy as the birds killed on the coasts, yet it 

 does not deserve the praise he gives it. The food of this 

 Duck consists of fish, mollusca, and various crustaceans 

 procured by diving. 



(ED EM I A DEC LAND I. 



Geographical Distribution. Northern portions of North Amer- 

 ica on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts; going south in winter 

 to Chesapeake Bay, southern Illinois, vicinity of St. Louis in Mis- 

 souri, and Lower California. Breeds in the Arctic regions. 



Adult Male. A small spot under eye, and speculum on wing, 

 white. Entire plumage, black, inclining to brownish black be- 

 neath; flanks olive brown. Base of maxilla, including elevated 

 culmen and nostrils, together with the edges, black. Sides of 

 maxilla, deep red, grading into orange on culmen; nail, vermil- 

 ion. Between the nail and nostril, pearly white. Iris, white, or 

 yellowish white. Legs and feet, scarlet; joints and webs, black. 

 Total length, about 20 inches; wings, n; culmen, i T 6 T ; tarsus, 2. 



