AMERICAN BLACK SCOTER. 537 
“‘ Although the King Hider (Somateria spectabilis, has been recorded as occurring at Lake 
Erie, and as a ‘rare winter visitant’ to Lake Michigan, its presence near Bufialo, N. Y., 
in such numbers as the following communication indicates, seems worthy of record. 
Mr. Charles Linden, of that city, in a letter dated November 26, 1879, writes: ‘I send 
you 4 fresh-shot specimen of what appears be Somateria spectabilis, young. * * * * 
Several flocks of them have, for the first time, made their appearance in the Niagara; 
they are very tame, allow approach to within a few yards, dive readily, and appear 
again a long distance from where they dove. They are evidently not used to the lurk- 
ing dangers of the gun, and have probably found their way up the St. Lawrence, up 
Lake Ontario, and across to Lake Erie. There have been to my knowledge at least eigh- 
teen of them shot. They are generally found in small flocks of three or four birds,’ ” 
GENUS GEDEMIA. 
Bill without lateral and superior basal processes; but much swollen or gibbous at base 
(in adult males); then depressed, and broad. Nail very large, forming the tip. Nostrils 
anterior to middle. 
Sub-genus Gdemia. Bill scarcely encroached upon by the frontal feathers, shorter 
than head, the gibbosity superior, circumscribed ; nostrils at its middle; tail normally 
sixteen-feathered. 
CHDEMIA AMERICANA Sw. 
American Black Scotter. 
Cdemia americana, MERRIAM, Trans. Conn. Acad., iv, 1877, 127. 
Oidemia americana, SWAINSON and RICHARDSON, Fn. Bor. Am., ii, 1831, 450. 
Plumage of male entirely black ; bill black, the gibbosity orange. Female sooty-brown, 
paler below, becoming grayish-white on the belly, there dusky-speckled, on the sides and 
flanks dusky-waved ; throat and sides of head mostly continuous whitish ; bill all black; 
feet livid olivaceous, with black webs. Male, nearly 2 feet; wing, about 10 inches; 
—_——- — = aoe 
SOMATERIA MOLLIssIMA (L.) Leach. 
var (?). DRESSERI Sharpe. 
Mider Duck. 
Bill with long club-shaped frontal processes extending in a line with the culmen upon 
the sides of the forehead, divided by a broad feathered interspace. Male in breeding 
attire, white, creamy-tinted on breast and washed with green on the head; under-parts 
from the breast, lower back, rump, tail, quills, and large forked patch on the crown, 
black. Female with the bill less developed, general plumage an extremely variable 
shade of reddish-brown or ochrey-brown, speckled, mottled and barred with darker; 
male in certain stages resembling the female. Length, about 2 feet; wing, 11-12 inches, 
Habitat, Atlantic and Arctic coasts. 
Mr. Nelson gives the Common American Hider as a not very rare winter visitor on 
Lake Michigan, where it is more numerous in winter than the King Eider. Careful 
observation will no doubt prove it to be an occasional winter visitor to Lake Erie. 
