SEA DUCKS 



(166) Oidemia perspicillata 



(Linn.) (Lat., conspicuous). 



SURF SCOTER; SKUNK-HEAD. 

 Ad. cf — Bill swollen at the base; 

 fantastically colored with orange, 

 black and white. Iris white. Plum- 

 age as shown, yld. 9 — Brownish- 

 gray, lighter below; a white patch 

 in Iront of the eye. Young birds 

 are similar but also have a white 

 patch on the ears. L., 20.00; W., 9.50' 

 Tar., 2.00; B., 1.50, along gape 2.30. 

 Nest — A feather-lined hollow on 

 the ground; five to eight pale buff 

 eggs, 2.40 X 1.70. 



Range — Breeds from Quebec, Great 

 Slave Lake and southern Alaska 

 northward. Winters on the coasts 

 south to N. Car. and Lower Cal., 

 and on the Great Lakes; casual in 

 other interior states. 



everything that flies ever shoot them. The three American 

 species are of about equal abundance and are essentially 

 salt-water ducks, although a few may be found on fresh-w'ater 

 ponds and rivers and quite large numbers winter on the 

 Great Lakes. Off the coast, however, immense rafts of 

 them congregate, getting their food from the depths and 

 sleeping on the rolling surface of the water. 



The latter part of April, these Coot-rafts commence to 

 break up into smaller groups, the birds mate and early in 

 May start on their journey for the far north. The majority 

 of them have their breeding grounds within the Arctic Circle, 

 but a few of the White-winged Scoters nest as far south as 

 North Dakota. The nests are hollows on the ground near 

 marshes or pools; they are well supplied with down, which 

 is pulled over the eggs when the female leaves the nest. As 

 soon as incubation commences, the males leave their mates 

 and congregate in rafts at sea. Nelson mentions one of 

 these rafts of Surf Scoters seen near Stewart's Island, Alaska, 

 as being about ten miles long. 



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