KEY TO THK WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 



235 



SuBGENus^PELIONETTA Kaup 



(Male.) 



(Female.) 



OIDEMIA PER5PICILLATA (Z/////.). 

 Surf Scoter. Sea Coot. 



Adult male : General plumage black, no white on the wing ; head black with a white 

 patch on the forehead and nape : feathers on the bill less than one half inch from the 



nostril. A pecuHar highly colored bill is one of the distinguishing marks of the male of this 

 species, it being orange, yellow, black, and white, the feathers on the top of the bill extending 

 much farther forward than on the sides. 



The female and immature brownish, .showing a whitish spot at the base of the bill and back 

 of the eyes; the female having the upper parts brownish: under parts ashy gray shading into 

 whitish on the belly. 



Length, 20.50; Wing. 9.60; Tarsus, 1.65: Bill (culmen). 1.50; side measure, 2.35. 



This species may always be distinguished from O. aiucr/caiia hx the 

 forward extension of the feathers on the top of the bill and from O. dco-landi 

 by the absence of the white wing patch. It ranges along the coast of 

 Northern North America and southward in winter to Florida and has been 

 recorded from Jamaica. In the winter of 1894-5 it was common about Lake 

 Worth but is usually not numerous in Florida. 



The eggs are described as being buffy or dull white and hve to eight 

 in number. 



