Jan., 1909. Birds of Illinois and Wisconsin — Cory. 345 



A common winter resident on Lake Michigan and on the larger 

 waters in the interior of lUinois and Wisconsin and abundant during 

 migrations. 



Subgenus PELIONETTA Kaup. 



65. Oidemia perspicillata (Linn.). 



Surf Scoter. 



Local names: Skunk-head Coot. Goggle-nose. 



Distr.: Northern North x\merica. breeding from Newfoundland 

 west to Alaska; winters from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to South 

 Carolina and casually to Florida, and on the west coast from the 

 Aleutian Islands to Lower California. 



Adult male: General plumage, black, no ivhite on the wing; head, 

 black, with a white patch on the forehead and nape; feathers on the 



bill, less than one-half 

 inch from the nostril. 



A peculiar highly- 

 colored bill is one of 

 the distinguishing 

 marks of the male of 

 this species, it being 

 orange, yellow, black, 

 and white, the feathers 

 on the top of the Ijill extending much farther forward than on the 

 sides. 



Female and immature: Brownish, showing a whitish spot at the 

 base of the bill, and back of the eyes; the female having the upper 

 parts, brownish; under parts, ashy gray, shading into whitish on the 

 belly. 



Length, 20.50; wing, 9.60; tarsus, 1.65; bill (culmen), 1.50; 

 side measure, 2.35. 



This species may always be distinguished from O. americana by 

 the fon\^ard extension of the feathers on the top of the Ijill, and from 

 0. deglandi by the absence of the white wing patch. 



Abundant on Lake Michigan in fall and winter, and in many of the 

 interior waters of Wisconsin and Illinois until ice forms. Leaves for 

 the north the last of March. 



