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approaching to black ; cheeks and throat 
of an ash-colour spotted with brown ; the 
back, wings and belly of a deep brown, 
each feather being bordered with whitish 
brown, the breast of an ash-coloured brown 
with the feathers bordered in the same 
manner. The base of the beak raised, but 
not surmounted with a globular protube- 
rance as in the male ; nostrils and a spot to- 
wards the point of the bill yellowish, the rest 
blackish ; eyelids brown. The above is a 
description of the mature bird, but some 
specimens have been found with part of 
the neck and head as far as the eyes, quite 
white. This was the case with the speci- 
men figured by Pennant and given in his 
work under the title of White Throated 
Duck. 
The young males scarcely differ from 
the old females. 
The Scoters prefer for their habitation 
the more northern climes, being tound ill 
Siberia and the northern coasts of America. 
In severe winters they descend to the more 
temperate latitudes in immense flocks, dis- 
persing themselves along the coasts of 
