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( 34 ) 



ORD. III. GEN. XI. DUCK. 



S P E. VI. SCOTER. 



PL 250. 



Anas nigra. Lin. Syft. I. p. 196. 

 La Macreufe. BriJ. Orn. VI. p. 420. 



The male weighs two pounds and half. The bill has not the nail, com- 

 mon to the reft of the genus, though in our figure one has been put by miftake 

 in the engraving; the upper mandible is yellow, edged with black, the under 

 wholly black : at the bafe of the bill is a round red knob, divided down the 

 middle: the whole of the plumage is coal black; that of the head, and a little 

 way down the neck, tinged with purple : legs, black : tail, long, and pointed, 

 the two middle feathers longed. 



The female has not the knob at the bafe of the bill, and is of a rufty brown 

 black colour, but nearly the fize of the male. 



This fpecies breeds in the northern parts of Europe and America, where it 

 is very numerous. It is common on our fea coafts, likewife, in winter. Its 

 food confifts of various marine productions, but chiefly fmall fliell-fifh ; and 

 its flelh has a very difagreeable filhy tafte. 







