86 BRITISH BIRDS 



Bird. Length 23 in. Sexes differ markedly, but in both 

 the face feathers are carried 

 forward some distance along 

 each side of the beak. The 

 drake has the upper back, wing- 

 coverts, and scapulars white. 

 Longer secondaries buffish-white. 

 Head and neck white except for 

 the pale sea-green on each side 

 of the nape, and the black patch 

 on the crown (see Fig. 101). 

 Fig. 101. Primaries, shorter .secondaries, 



rump, and tail brownish-black, 



with a white patch on each side of the rump. Under-parts 

 black, except the rosy-buff of the breast. In the " eclipse " dress 

 (June Oct.) the plumage is generally rusty brown mixed white. 

 Duck : mantle dark brown broadly edged rufous. Under-parts 

 brown finely barred grey or pale brown. Two white bars on the 

 wing. The young are like the female, with less white on the 

 wings. 



Nest. Near the sea, usually on islands. On the ground in 

 rough herbage, among rocks, or under a boulder. Material: 

 dead grass, &c., or sea-weed, lined later with the famous down, 

 which is pale greyish-brown with light centres. Species breed 

 in colonies. 



Eggs. Variable in numbers, 4- 1 1 or more. Colour ranges from 

 shades of olive to greenish-grey or bluish-green. Smooth and 

 large. Av. size, 3 -06 x 2-05 in. Laying begins May. One brood. 

 173. Scoter, black-duck [Oidemia nigra nigra (Linnseus)]. 

 Winter visitor and bird of passage to our seas. Also breeds 

 north Scotland, rarely Ireland. 



Bird. Length 20 in. Recognised by the wholly black colora- 

 tion of the drake, and the mostly sooty or rusty brown 

 coloration of the duck. Legs and toes dusky. The male has 

 a black knob at the base of the bill, the latter being black 

 with a conspicuous orange-yellow patch on the middle part of 

 the upper mandible. The knob is absent or nearly so in the 

 female ; also the orange-yellow. She may further be dis- 

 tinguished by the dusky grey cheeks. Young birds may be 

 recognised by the whitish under-parts vaguely mottled brown. 

 Among a flock of common-scoters may be seen the rarer 

 velvet-scoter, easily distinguished by the white bar across the 

 wing, smaller in the female and young. 



Nest. Usually in swampy moorland, among heather ; also on 

 islets in lakes, usually near water but not always. Material : 

 heather, rushes, &c,, with a lining of down. 



