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, 4-11 or more. Colour ranges from 
shades of olive to greenish-grey or bluish-green. Smooth and 
large. Av. size, 3°06 x 2°05in. Laying begins May, One brood. 
173. Scoter, black-duck [Oidemia migra nigra Cinneaee 
Winter visitor and bird of passage to our seas. Also breeds 
north Scotland, rarely Ireland. . 
Bird. Length 20in. 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. 
