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KEY TO THE WATER BIRDS OF FLORIDA. 
SusceENus PELIONETTA Kavup. 
(Male.) (Female.) 
OIDEMIA PERSPICILLATA (Zizz.). 
Surf Scoter. Sea Coot, 
Adult male: General plumage black, no white on the wing; head black with a white 
patch on the forehead and nape; feathers on the bill less than one half inch from the 
nostril. A peculiar highly colored bill is one of the distinguishing marks of the male of this 
species, it being orange, yellow, black, and white, the feathers on the top of the bill extending 
much farther forward than on the sides. 
The female and immature brownish, showing a whitish spot at the base of the bill and back 
of the eyes; the female having the upper parts brownish; under parts ashy gray shading into 
whitish on the belly. 
Length, 20.50; Wing, 9.60; Tarsus, 1.65; Bill (culmen), 1.50; side measure, 2.35. 
This species may always be distinguished from O. americana by the 
forward extension of the feathers on the top of the bill and from O. degland/ 
by the absence of the white wing patch. It ranges along the coast of 
Northern North America and southward in winter to Florida and has been 
recorded from Jamaica. In the winter of 1894-5 it was common about Lake 
Worth but is usually not numerous in Florida. 
The eggs are described as being buffy or dull white and five to eight 
in number. 
