390 FEATHERED GAME 
and deeper, also the frontal process is not so 
prominent as in the common species. She is 
smaller and of less ruddy coloring than Mrs. 
Dresseri, otherwise an exact replica of her 
larger cousin. 
The male in the first year resembles the fe- 
male; in the second he puts on a motley guise 
like that of the common eider, and is supposed 
to reach his third year before donning his per- 
fect plumage, beautiful and striking, even more 
so than that of the common eider. 
The nesting habits and mode of life are nearly 
identical with those of the typical eider, and 
there is little to be said of one species which 
may not with equal truth be applied to the other. 
This bird, however, nests much further north; 
perhaps the most northern summer dweller 
among the wildfowl. 
THE AMERICAN SCOTER. BUTTER- 
BILLED COOT. 
(Oidemia americana.) 
Few of the many species of seafowl which 
abound in New England’s waters are so well 
known, and probably none are so numerous 
