149 
SCOTER DUCK. 
^JVAS jYIGRJi, 
[Plate LXXIL— Fig. 2, Male,'] 
Gmel. Syst. I, p. 508, Ab. 7.—Ind. Orn. p. 848, Ab. 43. Gen, Syn. III,/;. 480, Ab. 36.— 
Black Diver or Scoter, Willuchby, p. 366. — La Macreuse, Briss. VI, p. 420, pi, 38, 
fg, 2. — Buff. IX, p. 234, />/. 16. PI. EnL 978. — Bewick, II, /j. 288. — Arct. Zool. No, 
484. Br. ZooL Ab. 273 . — Temm. Man. dDrn. p. 856. — Cuv. B^g. An. I, p. 532. — 
Montagu, Orn. Die, et Sup. — Peale’s Museum, No, 2658; female, 2059. 
THIS Duck is but little known along our seacoast, being 
more usually met with in the northern than southern districts ; 
and only during the winter. Its food is shell-fish, for which it is 
almost perpetually diving. That small bivalve so often mention- 
ed, small muscles, spout-fish, called on the coast razor handles, 
young clams, &c. furnish it with abundant fare ; and wherever 
these are plenty the Scoter is an occasional visitor. They swim, 
seemingly at ease, amidst the very roughest of the surf; but fly 
heavily along the surface, and to no great distance. They rarely 
penetrate far up our rivers, but seem to prefer the neighborhood 
of the ocean; dilfering in this respect from the Cormorant, which 
often makes extensive visits to the interior. 
The Scoters are said to appear on the coasts of France in 
great numbers, to which they are attracted by a certain kind of 
small bivalve shell-fish called vaimeaux, probably differing little 
from those already mentioned. Over the beds of these shell-fish 
the fishermen spread their nets, supporting them, horizontally, at 
the height of two or three feet from the bottom. At the llowing 
of the tide the Scoters approach in great numbers, diving after 
their favorite food, and soon get entangled in the nets. Twenty 
2 F 
VOL. VIII. 
