AMERICAN SCOTER. 
333 
AMERICAN SCOTER. 
BLACK SCOTER. BUTTER-BILLED COOT. BLACK COOT. 
SEA COOT. 
OlDEMlA AMERICANA. 
Char. Male: general plumage black, the under parts somewhat 
brownish; bill black, with large patch of orange or yellow on upper 
mandible ; legs and feet black. Length about 20 inches. = 
smaller than the male ; plumage dusky brown, more or less mixed with 
white on under parts. , 
ATest. On a sea-side cliff or moorland bluff near a lake, made ot 
coarse herbage and lined with down. 
Eggs. 6-10; buff of various shades ; 2.55 X i.So. 
This species, probably confounded with the Common Scoter, 
is said to inhabit the shores of Hudson Bay, breeding between 
the 50th and doth parallels, but does not appear to frequent 
the interior. It lives and feeds principally at sea, and its flesh 
is rank and oily. The American Scoters visit the coasts and 
bays of Massachusetts and New York in considerable numbers, 
associating with the Surf, Velvet, Eider, and other Sea Ducks, 
and are brought occasionally to Boston market about the first 
week in November. While here they appear to feed princi- 
pally on shell-fish, particularly mussels, and the flesh of the 
young is tolerably palatable. 
The American Scoter is not so strictly a sea-bird as Nuttall sup- 
posed, for though common on the coast it is found also on all the 
larger inland waters. 
In habits this species does not differ materially from its allies. 
