182 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



(Edemia fusca, b. (?) velvetina COTTES. Birds N. W. 1874, 582. 

 (Edemia fusca var. (?) COUBS, Key. 1872. 294; Check List, 1878, No. 517. 

 Oidemia deglandi BON IP. Bov. Grit de rOrn. Eorop. de Degl. 1850. 108.-A. O. U. Check List, 

 1886. No. 165. BIDGW. Man. N. Am. B. 1887. 112. 



HAB. Northern North America; chiefly maritime, but occurring on various inland 

 waters; south in winter to the Middle States, Great Lakes, Mississippi River near St. 

 Louis, Illinois River, and southern California. 



SP. CHAE. Adult male: Base of the culmen elevated into a prominent knob; lateral 

 base of the maxilla sunken beneath the feathers of the lores. Plumage uniform brownish 

 black. A crescentic spot beneath the eye, and extending backward for half an inch or 

 more, secondaries, and greater wing-coverts, white. Knob of the bill, with base, and mar- 

 gin of the puyrillm black; "sides of the bill red-lead, fading into orange;" "nail vermilion, 

 the anterior flat portion of the upper mandible whitish;" iris "white tinged with straw-yel- 

 low; legs scarlet, with black webs, and a tinge of black in the joints" (NurrALiJ. Young 

 male: Dark sooty brown, the head and neck sooty black; white on wings as in the adult, 

 but no white spot beneath the eye. Adult female: Uniform grayish fuliginous, the wings 

 darker: white speculum as in the male, but no white about the head, or with faint indica- 

 tions of white spot at base of maxilla and behind the eye. In summer, feathers of the 

 back, scapular region, and chest narrowly tipped with light brownish gray. Bill uni- 

 form dusky; iris yellow; feet as in the male, but duller in color. 



Total length, about 19.75 to 22.50 inches; extent, 36.00 to 40.00; wing, 10.75-12.00; com- 

 missure, 2.82; tarsus, 2.08. 



Professor Cooke records the White-winged Scoter as being 

 "generally distributed throughout Illinois in winter, but most 

 common on Lake Michigan." Like the common species (0. 

 americana) it frequents the larger bodies of water, usually riding 

 far out from the shore, and in general habits is very much like 

 its relatives. 



SUBGENUS PELIONETTA KAUP. 



Pelionetta KATTP, Sk. Entw. Euro p. Thierw. 1829. 107. Type, Anas persvicttlata Lara. 



SUBOBN. CHAB. Feathers on the forehead extending in a broad strip nearly or auite 

 as far as the posterior end of the nostrils, but those of the lores not advancing forward of 

 the rictus ; the lateral base of the maxilla in the adult male greatly swollen, and with the 

 basal outline convex; nail very large and broad, but narrow terminally. No white on the 

 wing, but the head with large white patches (indistinct in the female and young). 



Except in the form of the bill, as described above, this subgenus 

 very closely resembles Melanttta and Oidemia, but is sufficiently 

 distinct. Only one species is known. 



