SURF SCOTER. 
SURF DUCK. PATCH-HEAD. HORSE-HEAD COOT, 
j SKUNK-HEAD. 
!• 
; OlDEMTA PERSPICILLATA. 
Char Male ; general color deep black above, paler below ; a white 
I' natch on the forehead and on the nape ; bill mostly orange red, with a 
natch of black near the base of the upper mandible, bordered by orange 
!l and pale blue ; lower mandible pinkish ; legs and toes orange, webs dull 
i' gret;,,, claws black. Female : upper parts dusky or sooty brown ; under 
j parts ’ grayish ; bill dusky; legs and feet dull buff. Length about 19 
On the margin of a lake or sluggish stream, concealed amid a 
tussock of rank herbage or beneath a low branch, — made of coarse weed- 
stems and lined with down. 
Eggs. 5-8; pale buff or ivory white; 2.40 X 1.65. 
I’his species of Sea Duck, with other dark kinds here com- 
monly called Coots, may be properly considered as an Amer- 
i ican species, its visits in the Orkneys and European seas 
being merely accidental. It breeds on the Arctic coasts, and 
