Nest, &e. 
Food. 
General 
descrip- 
tion. 
Male. 
334 NATATORES. OIDEMIA. _ Scorer. 
towards its point, without any notch or sudden decrease ; and 
the tail, instead of sixteen, consists of fowricen feathers. The 
trachea is distinguished by two bony enlargements, the first 
of which is situated immediately below the larynx, of an oval 
shape, and in old specimens is nearly an inch in length. 
'The second is about two-thirds down the trachea, where it 
suddenly swells out into a large rounded capsule, flat on one 
side, and convex on the other; the bone of divarication, 
where the rings become lost, being, in old birds, slightly 
swollen on each side, where the bronchi, which are of 
small diameter, are attached to it. The Velvet Scoter is 
found in all the northern parts of Europe, and its winter 
migration to warmer latitudes is regulated by the severity or 
mildness of the season. It is also very abundant in all the 
Arctic regions of Asia, where, in Kamtschatka, Siberia, &c. 
it is reported to breed upon the banks of the larger rivers, 
within the effects of the tide. The nest is formed of grass, 
and lined with down, and the eggs, from eight to ten in num- 
ber, are white. It is met with also in North America. Its 
flesh is as unpalatable as that of the Black Scoter, on which 
account it is seldom pursued by the fowler, but is occasion- 
ally caught in the stake-nets set for salmon, &c.—In those 
which I have dissected, the gizzard, which is large and 
strong, was filled with the remains of mytilus, mactra, solen, 
and other shelly mollusca, intermixed with the spawn of fish 
or crustaceous animals. 
PiateE 67. Represents the Male and Female of the natural 
size. 
The plumage of the male bird is of an intense velvet- 
black, with the exception of the spot at the posterior 
angle of the eye, and the secondary quills, which are 
white. Upper part of the base of the upper mandible, 
nostrils, and margins of both mandibles, black ; the rest 
of the bill, including the lateral tubercles, bright orpi- 
ment-orange, with the tip of the nail darker. Inner 
