BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 



153 



SCOTER (Oidemia americana). 



Common or local names: American Scoter; Black Coot; Butter-bill; Black Butter- 

 bill; Yellowbill; Butter-nose; Copper-nose; Copper-bill; Pumpkin-blossom Coot; 

 Whistling Coot; Little Gray Coot; Smutty Coot; Fizzy; Broad-billed Coot. 



Female. 



Male. 



Length. — 17 to 20 inches. 



Adult Male. — General plumage black; bill black, except most of the swollen 

 base, which is vermilion or orange on the sides, changing to yellow 

 above and in front; iris brown; feet brownish black, webs black. 



Adult Female. — Much smaller than adult male; bill without hump at base; 

 top of head to eye dark brown; sides of head below eye, chin, throat and 

 upper fore neck grayish; rest of plumage sooty brown, lighter or gray- 

 ish below; bill black, often marked or streaked with yellow; legs and 

 feet brownish gray or olive brown, webs black. Young and female 

 birds not feathered down on top of bill to near nostril, as in the other 

 "Coots." 



Young. — Similar to female; usually lighter below, sometimes whitish. 



Field Marks. — The uniform black plumage of male and orange spot at 

 base of bill distinguish it. This species has no white marks in either sex. 

 The male is readily distinguished from the Black Duck by its habit of 

 diving and by the absence of the whitish wing linings, which in the 

 Black Duck are conspicuous in flight. The female and young closely 

 resemble those of the Surf Scoter, but the sides of head and throat are 

 distinctly gray where the Surf Scoter has indistinct white patches. 



Notes. — A long musical whistle (Elliot). 



Season. — Common migrant coastwise; late August or September to late 

 May; non-breeding birds sometimes summer. 



