120 ANSERIFORMES 



CHAP. 



exceptionally in Greenland, visiting us in winter, though rarely 

 reaching Spain and the Adriatic ; it is black with a white speculum 

 and mark under each eye, the bill being orange with black posterior 

 swelling and lateral line, and the feet dull crimson-red. The 

 brownish female has the white speculum, but a brown bill. The 

 very similar Oe. deglandi, of North-East America, has the base of 

 the maxilla entirely feathered, as has the still blacker Oe. carlo, 

 of North-East Asia. Oe. perspicillata, the Surf-Scoter, accidental 

 in Britain and North- West Europe, inhabits the far north of 

 America and the Asiatic coasts of Bering Straits, wintering 

 down to Jamaica and California. The black plumage is relieved 

 by white patches on the crown and nape ; there is a black mark 

 on each side of the crimson, scarlet, and orange bill, the feet 

 are crimson, orange, and black. The brown female has yellowish- 

 orange feet. Scoters are gregarious birds, usually found some way 

 from land except when breeding ; the flight is strong ; the note 

 guttural, but softer in spring ; the food consists of fish, molluscs, 

 and crustaceans. They nest near fresh-water lakes and pools, among 

 heather or grass, and lay from five to eight yellowish-white eggs. 

 Cosmonetta histrionica, the Harlequin Duck of Iceland, North- 

 East Asia, Arctic America, and possibly the Urals, which reaches 

 Japan, the United States,' and exceptionally Britain and elsewhere 

 in winter, is grey-blue, curiously marked with black and white on 

 the head, neck, wings, and chest ; the superciliary streaks and flanks 

 are chestnut, the speculum being purple, the bill plumbeous, the feet 

 brown. The female is brown with whitish cheeks and mottlings 

 below. The habits of tumbling and diving in rocky torrents have 

 been well described by Mr. Belding ; l the nest is in banks or under 

 boulders, and contains seven or eight buff eggs. Harelda glacialis, 

 the Long-tailed Duck of the Arctic Kegions, which appears to breed 

 in Shetland, and in winter even reaches the Mediterranean and 

 China, but more commonly the Caspian, Lake Baikal, Japan, and 

 the middle United States, is at that season white with brownish 

 patches on the sides of the neck, brown-black back, wings, central 

 rectrices, and chest. In summer the crown, neck, and scapulars 

 become brown, with rufous edges to the dorsal plumage. The bill 

 is pinkish and black, the feet are bluish. The female is brown, with 

 white ocular region, neck-ring, and lower parts. This noisy species 

 is called, from its musical chattering note, " Calloo " in Shetland 



1 Water Birds N. Amer. ii. Boston, 1884, p. 56. 



