ANATID^E. 237 



THE SURF SCOTER. (Edemia perspicillata. The Surf 

 Scoter or Surf Duck is rare both in Britain and in Europe, 

 its true home being America, and its visits to the seas and 

 coasts of Europe only accidental. In North America it is 

 abundant, frequenting in summer estuaries, bays, and bars 

 of the sea, and diving with great facility and vigour amidst 

 the heavy surf. In winter it migrates to the more southern 

 parts of the same continent, as far as Florida, numbers re- 

 sorting to the shores and open bays of the United States. 

 From these migrations it returns early in May to the far 

 North to breed, where, in marshy places or in the vicinity 

 of lakes or inland seas, its nest is found, formed of weeds 

 in a withered and rotten state, and lined with down. The 

 eggs are of a cream-colour, and at least five in number. 



THE VELVET SCOTER. (Edemia fusca. This species of 

 Duck is much rarer on the southern than the northern shores 

 of Britain; on the ktter, especially the most northern, it is 

 not uncommon in winter, but it returns northward to 

 breed. It is also an American species, migrating south- 

 ward in winter and returning to the north for the purposes 

 of incubation. In Europe it is common during the sum- 

 mer months in the interior of the whole of Scandinavia, 

 north of lat. 60. It frequents and breeds on the large 



