48 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



believed that a few pairs bred in the northern parts of the 

 Highlands of Scotland, but this still requires confirmation. 



Range outside the British Islands. An inhabitant of Scandinavia 

 during the breeding-season, and it is said by Naumann to nest 

 as far south as Mecklenburg. Its breeding-range probably 

 extends throughout Siberia to the Pacific, and on its southern 

 migrations it has been known to occur off the coast of North- 

 ern Spain, and it visits the Adriatic, the Black and Caspian 

 Seas, as well as Turkestan, while in the far east it wanders to 

 the Yangtze River in winter. In America it is replaced by an 

 allied species, (E. deglandi, which has the swollen base at the 

 sides of the upper mandible entirely feathered, and the loral 

 feathers are separated from the nostril by a space about equal 

 to the length of the nostril itself. 



Habits. During the nesting-season the Velvet Scoter ascends 

 rivers and also breeds on inland lakes, nesting, according to 

 Mr. Seebohm, on the tundra at some distance from water ; in 

 winter it frequents the sea-coasts. Its habits are somewhat less 

 shy than those of the Common Scoter, and its food consists 

 principally of molluscs, which it procures by diving. Its note 

 is, like that of other diving Ducks, a harsh ker-ker. 



Nest. According to Mr. Seebohm, a mere depression in the 

 ground, lined with any suitable material that may be handy, 

 and with a plentiful supply of down. 



Eggs. Eight or nine in number, laid at the end of June 

 or the beginning of July ; their colour is creamy stone-colour 

 or buff. Axis, 2*65-3*0 inches ; diam., 1-85-1-95. 



Down. Moderately dark, brown with greyish-brown filament- 

 ous tips, the white eye-spot very small and indistinct. 



III. THE SURF SCOTER. CEDEMIA PERSPICILLATA. 



Anas perspirillata, Linn. S. N. i. p. 201 (1766). 



Oidemia perspirillata, Macg. Br. B. v. p. 129(1852). 



(Edemia pc.rspirillata, Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 669, pi. 450 

 (1877) ; B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 136 (1883); Saunders, 

 ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 481 (1885) ; id. Man. Br. B. p. 457, 

 1 ; Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 412 (1895). 



