520 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



PELIONETTA, KAUP. 



Feathers not extending on sides of the bill; nail pointed anteriorly; colors black, 

 with a triangular white patch on the top of head and another on nape ; bill red, 

 with a rounded black lateral spot at base. 



PELIONETTA PEESPICILLATA. Kavp. 

 The Surf Duck ; Sea Coot ; Butter-bill Coot. 



Anas perspidllata, Wilson. Am. Orn., VIII. (1814) 49. 



Fuligula (Oidemia) perspicillata, Bonaparte. Syn. (1828), 389. Nutt. Man., 

 II. 416. 



Fuligula perspicillata, Audubon. Orn. Biog., IV. (1838) 161. /&., Birds Am., 

 VI. (1843) 337. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Male. Tail of fourteen feathers; bill but little longer than the head, the feathers 

 extending forward half-way from the base to the tip, and opposite the posterior border 

 of the nostril ; the bill abruptly decurved or gibbous anterior to the end of the 

 feathers; nostrils open, nearly semicircular or stirrup-shaped, the straight portion of 

 the outline antero-inferior ; sides of bill swollen at the base so as to be further apart 

 above than below; color, entirely black throughout, with a greenish lustre above, 

 duller beneath ; a triangular white patch on the top of head, the base extending 

 between the posterior outline of the eye and reaching forward to a point a little 

 beyond the posterior line of the bill, the outlines rounded laterally and anteriorly; 

 the patch is separated from the eye by a narrow superciliary black space ; there is a 

 second triangular white patch beginning on the nape as a straight line the width of 

 the other patch, and running backwards for more than two inches; these triangular 

 spaces are thus base to base; iris yellowish-white. 



Female. Bill as long as that of the male, but not swollen at the base, where the 

 sides approach each other above ; the feathers of forehead do not extend one-third 

 the distance from base to tip of bill ; the middle of nostril not quite as far as the 

 middle of the bill; nostrils linear, acutely pointed anteriorly; color brown; lighter 

 on the neck ; sides and beneath the under surface of the body whitish ; an obscure 

 whitish patch at the base of the bill, and another on the side of the head behind 

 the eyes. 



Length of male, nineteen inches ; wing, nine and forty one-hundredths ; tarsus, 

 one and sixty-three one-hundredths; commissure, two and thirty-seven one-hun- 

 dredths inches. 



Hob. On and near seacoast of North America, quite far south in winter; acci- 

 dental in Europe. 



The Surf Duck, or " Butter-bill Coot," as it is usually 

 called on the coast, is equally abundant with the preceding. 

 Like all the Sea Ducks, this bird is an expert diver. I have 

 followed a flock of Sea Coots for hours in a small yacht, 

 with a good breeze, and have been unable to get within 



