White-winged Scoter (O. deglandi) and Surf Scoter 
(O. perspicillata). 
I place what I have to say about these two species — or about 
their descriptions — under a common headline for convenience in 
presenting some of my more fragmentary notes. 
In Wilson’s work, Vol. VIII, 1814, the male of deglandi (be- 
lieved by all at that time to be identical with the European 
variety O. fused) is represented as having the upper mandible 
black at base, “the rest red.” Its bill has been referred to in our 
own half of the century also, as “black at base and lateral edges ; 
red elsewhere.” The writer of this last description probably got 
the idea of so uniform a red from Wilson, but where on earth did 
Wilson get it? Surely not from nature. Another writer has 
lately described deglandi in a fashion as original. He says: 
“Knob on bill black, rest of bill and legs orange.” It will be 
observed that though this later author has chosen a less san- 
guinary hue than his predecessors, he has carried it considerably 
farther, continuing it over the legs as well as beak.* 
*The colors of the bill and feet (of adult male deglandi ) are in reality as follows: — 
Upper mandible : immediately at base black, this black spreading forward over the 
elevated portion or knob and continued along the edges of the mandible, sometimes 
as far as the nail, and sometimes disappearing brokenly before reaching it; sides 
purplish red, or wine-purple, changing to orange next to the basal black; nail orange, 
but of a somewhat deeper tint; from nail to knob white; the middle of the bill, in 
other words, being broadly white from the nail to the black between the nostrils. 
Lower mandible : with patch of orange (including nail) at end; back of the orange, 
white, this white meeting irregularly with basal black which is extended in a some- 
what varying degree toward the gonys. 
Feet : side of tarsus and toes, excepting inner toe, dull purplish pink or light wine- 
purple; the inner side (or side next to the other foot), with both sides of the inner toe, 
Qrange-verroilion ; joints and other portions splashed \yjth black ; webs solidly black. 
) 
slow to recognize his mistake. I wonder if any one has ever ob 
served that he (Herbert) was also unfortunate in using in his 
‘Field Sports’ the specific character of perspicillata for amen- 
cana. He quotes from Giraud’s ‘Birds of Long Island,’ but un- 
happily copied from the wrong side of the leaf, — page 329 
instead of 330. 
While thus retrospective (and captiously inclined ?) I very nat- 
urally recall that specimen of deglandi taken in Alaska, which 
for a time was referred to fusca , and that other distinction with- 
out a difference, the supposed variety of ■perspicillata — i.e., 
frowbridgii. 
6 
c lug tneory ot evolution is as 
fascinating as it is today, what interesting changes might be shown 
among the Scoters. 
Ank ’ 9, April. 1892. /J~J — /£<?. 
