/(.So D" U C K.
36. '
SCOTER D.
Anas Nigra, Lie. Syfl. i. p. 196. 7.—Faun. Sate. N° n o .—Mullit, N*
n o .
La Macreufe, Brif. Ora. vi. p. 4 Z 0 . 28. pi. 3^■ ^S‘ z.— Buf. Oif. ix. p.
234. pi. 16.—PI. Eat. 978.
Scoter, or Black Diver, Raii Sjn. p. 141. A. 5.—IVill. Ora. p. 366. pi. 74*
— Br. Zool. ii. N° 273.—Brit. Zool. N° 484.
Lev. Mu/.
D e s c r i p t i o n . r p H I S is a trifle lefs than the Velvet Duck: length twenty-
two inches: weight two pounds nine ounces. The bafe of
the bill furnifhed with a knob, as in that bird, which is red,
and divided down the middle by a yellow line j the colour of the
F e m a l e .
bill is yellow above, edged with black, and the under mandible
wholly black : the eye-lids are yellow : the eyes black: the plumage
is wholly black: the head and neck glofiy: the under
parts dull: the legs are brown * .
The female has no knob on the upper mandible: the colours
dull; and in the chin, and middle of the breaft, fome afh-co-
loured or whitifh feathers mingled with the black: otherwife
P l a c e a n d
M a n n e r s .
like ihemale -j-.
This fpecies is found on the northern coafts of England and
thofe of Scotland, in the winter feafon j but no where fo com-;
mon as on the French coafts, where they are feen in prodigious
numbers, from November to March, efpecially if the wind be
to the north or north-weft. Their chief food is a glofiy bivalve
* “ The male hath no labyrinth on its wind-pipe— Willughby.
f Willughby mentions^the defeription of a female Pent to him, which had
** the neck and beadt on both iides, as far as the eyes, white»,) See Orn•
P- 367* ‘
{hell,
Pfcil
D U C K.
(hell, near an Inch long, called by the French, vaimeaux; thefe
they are perpetually diving after, frequently to the depth of fome
fathoms : this affords an ufual method of catching them, by
placing nets under the' water, in fuch places as the pells are
molt numerous; and, by this means, thirty or forty dozen of
them have been taken in one tide. The day feems to be fpent,
by thefe birds, between diving, and flying to fmall diftances over
the water, which it does fo low as frequently to dip the legs
therein. It fwallows the food whole, and foon digefls the fhells,
which are found quite crumbled to powder among the excrements.
Has been kept tame for fome time, and will feed on
foaked bread. The flefh taftes fifhy to an extreme, and, from
this caufe, is allowed by the Roman Catholics to be eaten on faft-
days, and in Lent j,and indeed, to fay the truth, mufi: be a fuf-
ficient mortification.
Thefe birds abound in all the northern parts of the continent,
Lapland, Sweden, Norway, and Ruffia; and are found in great
plenty on tlie great lakes and rivers of the north and eaft of Si-
biria, as well as on the fea-Jhores. It likewife inhabits North
America, being met with at New Tork *, and in all probability
much more to the north on that continent, and that of AJta;
OJbeck f met with them in 30 and 34 degrees fouth latitude, between
the ifiand of Java and St. Paul, in the month of June.
4? 1
Ar£i. Zool. f Yoy, i. p. 12 Im
VOL. III. 3 Q- Anas