The Common Scoter 55 
Adult Female. — The plumage of the adult female in winter in some degree resembles 
that of the immature female, but is readily distinguished by the bolder markings, and 
the uniform band of rich reddish-brown across the upper chest. The feathers round 
the vent are blackish-brown instead of smoky grey-brown. The flanks and upper parts 
are rich reddish-brown with broad light grey edges. The whitish-grey under parts extend 
right up to the blackish-brown vent, and do not grade into pale brown as in the young 
bird. In old females there is a slight tendency to a knob on the bill which is bluish-black ; 
nail black ; feet and legs olive, with yellowish-blue on the instep and back of the toes ; 
irides, red-brown ; measurements a little smaller than the male ; the central tail feathers not 
so long or pointed. 
There seems to be two very distinct forms of the female Common Scoter. As is 
the case of the female Tufted Duck, which in summer sometimes, but not always, has 
a moult all over the lower parts, and becomes rich "golden" brown, the Common Scoter 
has a similar plumage, though somewhat darker. These dark females seem to be scarcer 
than the light-breasted ones. One which I killed at Myvatn, Iceland, in June, has rich 
sandy-yellow edges to the dark upper breast, and is a rich blackish-brown over the whole of 
the rest of the under parts. The tail is unusually long and pointed. I assume that this is 
an old and very dark female, and is a marked contrast to another breeding female of the 
light type (see figures, Common Scoter plate). 
General Distribution. — The Common Scoter breeds in the British Isles and in Iceland. 
From thence eastward it breeds throughout N. Europe and N.W. Siberia as far as the 
Taimyr Peninsula. On passage, and during winter, it frequents the coasts of Europe, 
occasionally straying as far south as Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean, the Azores, and 
N.W. Africa. It is replaced in N.E. Siberia and N. America by a closely allied race, 
Oidemia nigra americana, which breeds to the north of lat. 52°, from Alaska to Labrador 
and in eastern Asia, in Kamtschatka, the Kuriles, the Kolyma valley, and, according to 
Buturlin, sparingly as far east as the Lena. 
Breeding Range. 
British Isles : Scotland, — Breeds in Caithness (Harvie Brown, Saunders, and others), 
commonly on " flows." 
Sutherland. — Also common, especially on east side (T. E. Buckley, Harvie Brown, 
Saunders, H. Noble, and others) ; now extending to the west. First recorded as breeding 
in 1877 {cf. Newton, Ootheca Wolleyana, ii. p. 580). 
Ross. — In small numbers (H. Noble, Brit. Birds, ii. p. 39) ; not in West Ross (see 
V. F. of N.W. Highlands, p. 249).' 
Inverness. — " High-lying mountain lochs of certain parts of Inverness along Caledonian 
Canal" (J. A. Harvie Brown, Brit. Birds, ii. p. 134). 
Cromarty. — Breeds in small numbers (H. Noble, Brit. Birds, ii. p. 39). 
^ Mr. Heatley Noble sends me the following note : " Much more numerous as a breeding species in Scotland than generally 
supposed. Howard Saunders says a ' few remain to breed, &c.' This is wrong ; I have seen numbers breeding on the lochs near 
Forsinard, and also at Strathmore, near Halkirk. I know another place where it breeds regularly in Inverness-shire. A nest I 
found on June 1 7 contained seven hard-sat eggs. It was in heather and some way from the loch, where the male birds were to be 
seen. I watched the female fly on to the nest when she got up off the water." 
[I can corroborate this, and think the breeding area is rapidly extending in Sutherland and Caithness. I know that several 
bred near Kinbrace, and one pair on Loch Skelpig, in 1912. — J. G. M.] 
