334 NATATORES. OIDEMIA. SCOTER. 



towards its point, without any notch or sudden decrease ; and 

 the tail, instead of sixteen, consists of fourteen feathers. The 

 trachea is distinguished by two bony enlargements, the first 

 of which is situated immediately below the larynx, of an oval 

 shape, and in old specimens is nearly an inch in length. 

 The second is about two-thirds down the trachea, where it 

 suddenly swells out into a large rounded capsule, flat on one 

 side, and convex on the other ; the bone of divarication, 

 where the rings become lost, being, in old birds, slightly 

 swollen on each side, where the bronchi, which are of 

 small diameter, are attached to it. The Velvet Scoter is 

 found in all the northern parts of Europe, and its winter 

 migration to warmer latitudes is regulated by the severity or 

 mildness of the season. It is also very abundant in all the 

 Arctic regions of Asia, where, in Kamtschatka, Siberia, &c. 

 it is reported to breed upon the banks of the larger rivers, 

 Nest,&c. within the 'effects of the tide. The nest is formed of grass, 

 and lined with down, and the eggs, from eight to ten in num- 

 ber, are white. It is met with also in North America. Its 

 flesh is as unpalatable as that of the Black Scoter, on which 

 account it is seldom pursued by the fowler, but is occasion- 

 ally caught in the stake-nets set for salmon, &c. In those 

 Food, which I have dissected, the gizzard, which is large and 

 strong, was filled with the remains of mytilus, mactra, solen, 

 and other shelly mollusca, intermixed with the spawn of fish 

 or crustaceous animals. 



PLATE 67. Represents the Male and Female of the natural 



size. 



General Th e plumage of the male bird is of an intense velvet- 



tion. black, with the exception of the spot at the posterior 



Male. angle of the eye, and the secondary quills, which are 



white. Upper part of the base of the upper mandible, 



nostrils, and margins of both mandibles, black ; the rest 



of the bill, including the lateral tubercles, bright orpi- 



ment-orange, with the tip of the nail darker. Inner 



