2 24 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Oidemia perspicillata (Linnaeus) 

 Surf Scoter 



Plate JO 



Anas perspicillata Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. lo. 1758. 1:125 

 Fuligula perspicillata DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 335, fig. 253, 254 

 Oidemia perspicillata A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 166 



per'spicilla'ta, Lat., very conspicuous 



Description. Adult male: Glossy black, duller below; a triangular 

 white patch on forehead, and another on the nape; bill white, pink, orange 

 and camiine red, with a large black patch on the side of upper mandible 

 near the base; feet orange red with dusky webs; iris pearly white. Female 

 and young: Sooty brown above ; silvery gray below ; sides of head with more 

 or less grayish white, in the young males at least gathered into cheek and 

 ear patches ; bill blackish ; feet dusky tinged with reddish ; size of the smallest 

 dimensions given. 



Length 17-21 inches; extent 31-36; wing 9-10; tarsus i. 65-1. 7; 

 middle toe and claw 3.25; bill along gape 2.25-2.5. 



Remarks. The male of this species has the tumid enlargement of the 

 bill on the sides as well as above the nostrils and the feathers of the loral 

 region do not encroach upon the sides of the bill as in the White-winged 

 scoter. The latter character will help distinguish females and young of the 

 Surf duck, but the absence of the white patch in the wing makes just as 

 certain a mark, and one which can be recognized at a long distance. 



Distribution and migration. This species is an abundant transient 

 visitant along the seacoast and common along the Hudson river and Lake 

 Champlain. It is less commonly met with on the Great Lakes, except in 

 the fall when it is common for a few days in October. Immature specimens 

 are occasionally taken on the central lakes, but is much less common than 

 the White-winged scoter. It is also common throughout the winter off the 

 Long Island coast, but rare as a winter visitant on the inland waters. It 

 arrives from the north from the ist to the 15th of October and disappears 

 from the smaller inland waters by the middle of November. In the spring 

 it leaves the Long Island waters in May, no definite dates being obtainable. 

 This species breeds from Newfoundland and southern Labrador to Great 

 Slave lake and the Arctic coast and is found in winter principally along the 

 coast from the Bay of Fundy to Florida. 



