400 FEATHERED GAME 
number of this species nesting in northern Lab- 
rador. The Butter-billed Coot is entirely 
black save the nugget of gold which it so care- 
fully balances upon its nose. The base of the 
bill’is bright orange yellow, the rest plain black 
to conform to the sad hue of its raiment. Iris 
brown; feet blackish in male; olivaceous with 
black webs in young male and female. 
The female is a trifle smaller than the male 
and of dusky brown color; bill lacking the gib- 
bosity of the male and entirely black. Length 
of this species from seventeen to twenty inches; 
extent from thirty to thirty-four inches. 
Young or female birds in any stage of de- 
velopment may be recognised (aside from color 
of iris) by the fact that the feathering stops 
short on the bill, not coming down nearly to the 
nostrils on top as in the other species. 
THE WHITE-WINGED COOT. ‘‘WHITE- 
WING.”’ 
Oidemia deglandi.) 
Best known and most numerous of the three 
is the ‘‘White-winged Coot,’’ known also as 
the ‘‘White-winged Scoter,’’ ‘‘Velvet Duck,-: 
