118 AMERICAN SCOTER DUCK. 



ternally of small sticks, moss, and grasses, lined with down, in smaller 

 quantity than that found in the nest of the bird just mentioned, and 

 mixed with feathers. The eggs, which were ready to be hatched, were 

 eight in number, two inches in length, an inch and five-eighths in 

 breadth, of an oval form, smooth, and of a uniform pale yellowish co- 

 lour. I afterwards found a female with seven young ones, of which 

 she took such effectual care that none of them fell into our hands. 

 On several occasions, when they were fatigued by diving, she received 

 them all on her back, and swimming deeply, though very fast, took 

 them to the shore, where the little things lay close among the tall 

 grass and low tangled bushes. In this species, as in others, the male 

 forsakes the female as soon as incubation commences. 



This bird usually flies low over the water, although its flight is 

 swift and well sustained. On land it moves more awkwardly than the 

 Eider Duck, but in diving it is perhaps superior to that species. 

 During their stay along our shores, they congregate in vast multitudes, 

 and being often shot on wing in numbers, are sold in all the markets 

 of our maritime cities ; but their flesh is very dark and has a strong 

 fishy flavour, so as to be very unsavoury. It sometimes happens that 

 during violent gales the Scoter is forced into fresh- water rivers, from 

 which, however, it returns to the salt bays, inlets, or outer sandy shal- 

 lows of the coast, as soon as the weather permits. They are extremely 

 abundant about Boston, New York, the New Jersey shores, and the 

 Chesapeake ; but less so to the southward, until you reach the salt 

 lakes about New Orleans. Their food consists of shell-fish of small 

 size, marine plants, and insects. 



The difference between this species and the European bird of the 

 same name, Fuligula nigra, being now well known, it is unnecessary to 

 say any thing on the subject. I have given figures of the adult male 

 and female, but am not acquainted with the changes which the plu- 

 mage undergoes. The young are covered with pure black hair-like 

 down. In the winter season, at which time the male in the plate was 

 drawn, the colour of the bill is much less bright than in spring, or 

 during the period of breeding, when the males, after they have left 

 the females, associate together in parties, and moult in August. 



It has been supposed that we have two species confounded imder 

 the common name of Scoter ; but I have not succeeded in finding more 

 than one, and my zealous young friend, Dr Thomas M. Brewer, of 



