Plate CCCCVIII. Male and Female.
Bill a little shorter than the head, with an obtuse prominence at the
base of the upper mandible; tail graduated, acuminate, of sixteen
pointed feathers; first quill with the inner web extremely attenuated.
Male with the bill black, the basal prominence rich orange; feet
brownish-black; the general colour of the plumage black, on the lower
parts tinged with brown, the inner webs of the quills brownish-grey.
Female with the bill brownish-black, and having scarcely any
protuberance at the base; the upper parts light sooty-brown, the lower
light brownish-grey.
This species differs very little from _Fuligula nigra_, being nearly
of the same size, proportions, and colours. The male differs from that
of the other species in having the sides of the unguis narrowed, and
the orange patch on the upper mandible less extended beyond the
nostrils, and destitute of the median black line and lateral streak.
_Male_, 19, 33-1/2. _Female_, 17, 29-1/2.
In winter abundant in the Bays of Boston, New York, and Chesapeake,
and as far south as the mouth of the Mississippi. Never inland. Breeds
from Labrador to the Arctic seas.
Scoter Duck, Anas nigra, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 135.
Fuligula nigra, Bonap. Syn. p. 390.
Oidemia americana, Swains. American Scoter, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 450.
American Scoter Duck, Fuligula americana, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p.
422.
American Scoter Duck, Fuligula americana, Aud. Orn. Biog. v.
v. p. 117.
***** Bill shorter than the head, with a basal protuberance
above, the inner secondaries curved outwards.