166 
BLACK SCOTER. 
colouring is without lustre and soft , the base and 
margin of the bill are black, the other parts bright 
orpiment-orange ; inside of the tarsus carmine red, 
toes orange red, the membranes black. In the 
female the .plumage is brownish black, paler on tbe 
under surface, on the auriculars a patch of greyish 
white ; the bill and legs have not the vivid colour- 
ing of the male. According to Audubon, the young 
much resemble the female during the first year, the 
white spots on the bead being apparent ; the feet 
beginning to show their brilliant colour. 
The Common or Black Scoter. — CEdemia ni- 
gra. — Anas nigra , Linn. — CEdemia nigra, Flem., 
Selhy, &c. — Common or Black Scoter of British 
authors ,- — This species we consider in Scotland at 
least as more uncommon than the last, and in our 
boating excursions after wild-fowl, many years 
since, in the Firth of Forth, we always found it 
much more difficult to approach, and to attempt to 
escape more frequently by diving. It is there a 
winter visitant, and specimens may be occasionally 
obtained in the Edinburgh markets. To the south 
it is also principally a winter guest, but Mr. Yar- 
rell states that birds are occasionally seen during 
the summer months near the shores, and suspects 
that they are birds which are either barren or have 
not attained maturity, as in the case of tho last 
bird, thousands of sterile individuals of which, ac- 
cording to Audubon, pass the summer in the Bay 
