VELVET SCOTER. 
3 
The upper mandible of this handsome species exhibits a striking combination of tints. The colours 
on the soft parts of an adult male shot on the Dornoch Eirtb, off Golspie, on the lltli of April, 1869, may 
he described as follows : — The protuberance on the upper mandible is black, the colour stretching just 
below the nostrils, both in front and at the sides ; the centre down to the nail is white ; the sides (the 
colouring stretching almost to the base, Avhich is black for a little over an eighth of an inch) are of a 
pale yellow, with a strong apricot tinge towards the point, edged on the lower portion with a narrow 
tliough clearly defined black line, the nail showing a dull yellow tint. Though the coloured plates in 
two or three of the most trustworthy ornithological works give a strongly-marked black line down each 
side of the white patch on the centre of the upper mandible, I have never observed this mark on fresh- 
killed specimens obtained either in spring, summer, or winter; possibly it does not make its appearance 
till shortly after death *. Iris silvery white. Legs and toes cherry-colour, inner side of legs orange, webs 
black; joints dusky; hind toe variegated cherry and black outside, inside an orange tinge. The colours 
of the soft parts of an immature male obtained off Shoreham in December 1879 were as follows : — 
Upper mandible a dark brown with lightisli spots at sides, lower a dull pale brown. Iris dark hazel. 
Legs and toes a dull copper-colour, webs dark brown. 
Though unable to state from personal observation that this species rears its young within the limits 
of the British Islands, I have little doubt that Velvet Scoters, in former years, regularly nested in two, if 
not three, of the northern eounties of the Highlands ; whether they still continue to do so, I can, however, 
offer no opinion. While collecting in the north in 1869, I learned from a forester, whose knowledge of 
the habits of the birds frequenting his native district was unquestionable, that the large Scoter t bred on 
the moors surrounding a number of small lochs in an open part of the country. My time being fully 
occupied in procuring specimens of several species whose whereabouts had been previously ascertained, I 
sent one of my men, who was also well acquainted with this Scoter, to visit the locality in company 
with the Highlander, in order to make sure no mistake had occurred. On their return I learned that 
a pair or two of birds had been observed, and a female identified on rising from her eggs. As arrange- 
ments had been made to leave on the following day for a drive of nearly one hundred miles, it Avas too 
late to put off our journey to visit the spot. Since that date I have not had another opportunity of 
exploring the district, though in a still more desolate and remote corner of the Highlands I watched a 
female flying over the moors, near a small swampy loch, one niglit in tlie summer of 1878 ; it is, however, 
quite probable that on some future occasion a dowmy brood of V elvet Scoters may be met Avith in one 
or other of the northern counties of the Highlands. 
* A sketch I made of the head of the male described above (shot April 14th, 18(59), taken immediately after the bird was lifted into the punt, 
corresponded precisely with that of the male figured in Mr. Gould’s carefully executed plate of this species, with the exception of the absence of this 
black line, and the fact that the nail extended somewhat more prominently beyond the point of the beak. If I remember rightly (though no 
reference is made to the subject in my notes), this portion of the mandible contracted slightly in course of time. 
t The male, as my informant described, much resembling a Blackcock when on wing. 
