262 ZOOLOGY. 



MELANETTA VELVETINA, (Cass.) Baird. 



Velvet Duck; Wliite-wlngcd Coot. 



Anasfmca, Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 137 ; pi. Ixxii. Not of Linnaeus. 



Fuligula (Oideinia) fusca,'Bon. Syn. 1828, 390.— Ndtt. Man. II, 1834,419. 



FuliguUfusca, AuD. Orn. Biog. Ill, 1835, 454 ; pi. 247. -Ib. Syn. 1839, 280.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 332; pi. 401. 



Oidemia vdve/ina, Cassin, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, Oct. 1850, 12G. 



MelaneUa velmlina, Baird, Gou. Eep. Birds, 805. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. — Bill very broad, wider towards thetip than at the base ; feathers extending far along the side of the bill, 

 and on the forehead, for nearly half the commissure, running in an obtuse point about as far forward as the lower corner of 

 the outline of feathers on the side, both reaching nearly to the posterior border of the large, open, nearly rounded nostrils ; 

 culmen horizontal a little beyond the frontal feathers, then abruptly bent downwards, nearly perpendiodarly, to the much 

 depressed, nearly horizontal portion ; a sliarp indented ridge along the base of culmen, ending in a trihedral tubercle. Color 

 black ; a white elongated patch around and a little behind the eye, and a large white speculum on the wing composed of 

 white secondaries and tips of greater coverts ; bill black at base and later.al edges ; red elsewhere. 



Female somewhat similar, but lighter beneath, and smaller ; a large whitish patch on the side of the head behind the eye, 

 but none around it ; wings with white speculum, somewhat as in the male ; bill also similar, but loss swollen and elevated 

 at base. Length, from 20 to 23 inches ; extent, from 36 to 39. 25 ; wing, 10. IC to 12 ; tarsus, 2. 08 ; commissure, 2. 82. 

 Iris of the male, pale gray, or grayish white ; of the female, irown. 



Ilah. — Along both coasts of North America, to the north. 



The white-winged coot, or velvet duck, is common in winter in all tlie bays and inlets of 

 Puget Sound. I obtained four or five specimen at Fort Steilacoom. In common ^vith other of 

 the dark colored, fishy, sea ducks, it is called by the Nisqually Indians l-waV-hoo. They arrive 

 in that vicinity about the middle of October, and continue plentiful until about the 1st of April, 

 when they nearly all disappear. They are almost always found on salt water, but I have 

 occasionally heard of one being killed inland. When fat they rise from the water with difficulty, 

 beating it with their wings for a long distance. The flesh is oily, and possesses a strong, and 

 to many a disagreeable, fishy flavor. This is, however, much prized by the Indians, who, for 

 eating, prefer them to mallards. — S. 



The black or velvet scoter is common in -winter aljout bays and estuaries, together with the 

 other two species of surf duck, but none of them seem to breed in the Territory, tiiough a few 

 linger in the bays all summer, which may be superannuated specimens. — C. 



PELIONETTA PERSPICILLATA, Kaup. 



Surf Duck ; Sea Coot. 



Anas perspkUlata, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 201. — Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 18H, 49 ; pi. Ixvii. 



Fuligula {Oiitcmia) pcrsjjieillata, Bon. Syn. 1828,389. — Nottall, Man. 11,410 



"Pdionetta perspicilta/a, Kaup," Reich. Icones Av. -Bonap. Comptes Rondus, XLIII, Sept. 185G. — Bairo, Gen. Rep. 



Birds, 806. 



Fuligula pcrspinlhta. Add. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, Kil ; pi 317 — Ib Syn. 28'J — Ib. Birds Am. VI, 1843, 337 ; pi. 402. 



Sp. Ch. — Male. — Tail of 14 feathers. Bill but little longer than the head, the feathers extending forward halfway from the base 



to the tip, and opposite the posterior border of the nostril ; the bill abruptly decurved or gibbous anterior to the end of the 



feathers ; nostrils open, nearly semicircular or stirrup shaped, the straight portion of the outline antero-inferior ; sides of bill 



swollen at the base so as to be further apart above than below. 



Color entirely black throughout, with a greenish lustre above, duller beneath ; a triangular white patch on the top of head, 

 the base extending between the posterior outline of the eye and reaching forward to a point a little beyond the posterior line of 

 the bill, the outlines rounded laterally and anteriorly ; the patch is separated from the eye by a narrow superciliary black space. 

 There is a second triaugular white patch beginning on the nape as a straight line, the width of the other patch, and runuing 

 bacEwards for more than two inches. These triaugular spaces are thus base to base. Iris white ; bill and feet variegated. 

 Female. — Bill as long as that of the male, but not swollen at the base, where the sides approach each other above ; the feathers 



