624 VELVET DUCK. 
the same fishy flavor, having been exempted from the interdict, on the 
supposition of their being cold-blooded, and partaking of the nature 
of fish.* 
The Scoter abounds in Lapland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Si- 
beria. It was also found by Osbeck between the islands of Java and 
St. Paul, lat. 30 and 34, in the month of June.t ; ‘ 
This species is twenty-one inches in length, and thirty-four in extent, 
and is easily distinguished from all other Ducks by the peculiar form 
of its bill, which has at the base a large, elevated knob, of a red color, 
divided by a narrow line of yellow, which spreads over As pene ] 
the upper mandible, reaching nearly to its extremity; the edges an 
ower manditle ane Inc ihe eval is yellow; race dark hazel ; 
the whole plumage is black, inclining to purple on the head and neck ; 
legs and feet, reddish. : : 
The female has little or nothing of the knob on the bill; her plu- 
mage, above, a sooty brown, and below of a grayish white. 
VELVET DUCK.—ANAS FUSCA. — Fie. 301. 
Le grande macreuse, Briss. vi. p. 423, 29. — Buff. ix. p. 242. Pl. enl. 956.— 
Arct. Zool. No. 482.— Bewick, ii. p. 286.— Lath. Syn. iii. p. 482. — Peale’s 
Museum, No. 2658 ; female. 7 
OIDEMIA FUSCA, —Fremine.t 
Oidemia fusca, Flem. Br. Anim. p. 119.— Bonap. Synop. p. 390.— North. Zool. 
ii. p. 450. — Canard double macreuse, Lemm. Man. ii. p. 854.— Velvet Duck, 
Mont. Ornith. Dict. — Bew. Br. Birds, ii. 322.— Velvet Scoter, Selby, Illust. 
Br. Ornith. pl. 67. 
Tuis and the preceding are frequently confounded together as one 
and the same species, by our gunners on the sea-coast. The former, 
however, differs in being of greater size; in having a broad band of 
white across the wing ; a spot of the same under the eye; and in the 
structure of its bill, The habits of both are very much alike; they 
visit us only during the winter; feed entirely on shell fish, which they 
procure by diving; and return to the northern regions early in spring 
to breed. They often associate with the Scoters, and are taken fre- 
quently in the same nets with them. Owing to the rank, fishy flavor 
* BEWIcK. t Voyage, i. p. 120. 
¢ This, with the preceding, and the O. perspicillata, constitute the American 
species of Fleming’s genus Bidemia, They are all visitants also of the European 
ontinent “during winter, and, with the exception of the last, are of rather com- 
mon occurrence. They are truly Sea Ducks, and never almost leave that element 
except during the season of incubation. They are expert divers, and feed on fish 
and marine mollusc ; we find, therefore, the foot expanded, the hallux furnished 
with a broad membrane, and the legs placed far back. The bill is expanded, and 
generally swollen at the base; the plumage, thick and compact, and of plossy 
smoothness ; the wings, short, but firm, and sharp-pointed, capable, apparently, of 
a strong flight "or a short while, but unfitted for any prolonged exertion. ~ Ep, 
