THE SCOTERS. 47 



Adult Male. Velvety-black all over, with a white alar specu- 

 lum formed by the tips of the greater coverts being white, as 

 well as the secondary-quills ; eyelids and a small spot under 

 the eye white ; bill pale orange or apricot-yellow, the base and 

 edges black, with a diagonal line of black running from each 

 nostril to the nail of the bill ; feet and toes dull crimson-red or 

 orange-red, the webs black ; iris chalky-white. Total length, 

 22 inches; culmen, 17; wing, 10-4; tail, 27; tarsus, r8. 



There is some discrepancy between the descriptions of the 

 soft parts of this Duck. I have given them as described by 

 Count Salvador! and Mr. Howard Saunders. 



Adult Female. Brown, instead of black, with greyish margins 

 to the feathers of the upper surface ; wing-coverts like the back, 

 the greater series not tipped with white ; a white wing-speculum 

 formed by the white secondaries, the outer ones of which are 

 edged with black at the ends ; a slightly indicated white patch 

 on the lores and ear-coverts ; under surface of body brown, 

 with a little whitish on the breast ; bill brown ; feet paler than 

 in the male ; iris brown. Total length, 21 inches; wing, 10-2. 



Young Birds. At first resemble the adult female. The young 

 males in their first spring plumage resemble the adults, but are 

 not so glossy. 



Nestling. May be distinguished from the nestling of the 

 Common Scoter by being whiter underneath and by having a 

 white spot on the wings. 



Characters. Besides the white alar speculum, the length of 

 the commissure or gape of the bill is much more than the 

 length of the inner toe, without its claw. Count Salvador! also 

 points out that the feathers of the head advance farther for- 

 ward on the lores than they do on the forehead. On account 

 of these differences the Velvet Scoter is sometimes generically 

 separated from the others as Melanonetta fusca. 



Eange in Great Britain. A winter visitant, along with the Com- 

 mon Scoter, being more abundant on our eastern coasts than 

 on the west, and the same is the case with Scotland and 

 Ireland. A male bird has been recorded by Mr. Bolam as 

 having frequented the vicinity of Berwick-on-Tweed all the 

 summer of 1879, until the middle of September, and Mr. Booth 



