BIRDS-FULIGULINAE—0IDEM1A AMERICANA. 
807 
Color entirely black with a greenish gloss above ; a very small triangular white patch on the forehead reaching forward to the 
beginning of the bill, the posterior extremity considerably anterior to the eye ; a very broad triangular white patch on the nape, 
the feathers much longer and softer than elsewhere. Length 23.00 ; wing, 9.80 ; tarsus, 1.80 ; commissure, 2.72. 
Hab .—Coast of southern California in winter. 
This species is much like 0. perspicillata, but is larger. The bill is more like that of the 
female O. perspicillata than of the male. It is longer and rather narrower, less swollen at the 
base. The frontal feathers do not extend so far forward, falling considerably behind the nostrils. 
The culmen is in a line with the forehead to the end of nostrils, instead of descending abruptly. 
The nostrils are narrower, more elongate and acute anteriorly. The white patch on the head 
is very much smaller and anterior to the eye, instead of coming back to the line of the posterior 
canthus. The nuchal patch is larger, broader, fuller and softer. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When 
collected. 
Whence obtained. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
9860 
3 
San Diego, Cal_ 
1853 
Lieut. Trowbridge_ 
_do_ 
A. Cassidy--.._ 
20. 00 
30. 00 
9861 
_do_-__ _ _ „ 
_do_____ 
9859 ? 
Q? 
_do_ 
Lieut. Williamson... 
OIDEMIA AMERICANA, Swain son. 
Scoter. 
Anas nigra, Wilson, Am. Orn. VIII, 1814, 135; pi lxxii. Not of Linnaeus. 
Anas ( Fuligula ) nigra, Bon. Obs. Wilson, 1825, No. 267. 
Fuligula ( Oidemia) nigra, Bon. Syn. 1828, 390. 
Oidemia americana, Swainson, F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 450.— Bon. List, 1838. 
Melanetla americana, Eyton, Mon. Auat. 1838, 144. 
Fuligula americana , Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 117; pi. 408.— Ib. Syn. 290.— Ib. Birds Amer. VI, 1843, 343; pi. 403. 
Sp. Ch.— Male. Tail of sixteen feathers. Bill much swollen on the basal third; the basal portion of culmen convex and 
rapidly descending; the terminal portion of bill much depressed; the anterior extremity of nostrils half way from the lateral 
or upper feathers at the base of bill to the tip. The swelling at base of bill divided by a furrow along the median line. The 
frontal feathers extend slightly forward in an obtuse point. Bill of female not very dissimilar, lacking the swelling at the base. 
Color entirely black all over, without any white. Bill black along the edges and tip; the swollen basal portion red to beyond 
the nostrils. 
Female. Brown; lighter on sides of head, throat, and under surface of body, where the feathers have each an obscure dusky 
spot. 
Length, 23.80; wing, 9.20; tarsus, 1.78; commissure, 2.14 
Hab. —Seacoast of North America. 
According to Degland, (Orn. Europ. II, 472,) the American scoter differs from the European 
in having the bill broader, the gibbosity less elevated, wider, and entirely orange from the 
frontal feathers to the nostrils: while in A. nigra the yellow begins only at the base of the 
tuberosity, surrounds the nostrils, and occupies only the centre of the middle portion of the 
bill. The basal protuberance, too, in the American bird is single, with a median sinuosity ; 
while in the European it is formed by two hemispheres, separated by a furrow. 
