Velvet Duck, Anas fusca, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 137.
Fuligula fusca, Bonap. Syn. p. 390.
Oidemia fusca, Velvet Duck, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 449.
Velvet Duck, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 419.
Velvet Duck, Fuligula fusca, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iii. p. 354.
403. 8. Fuligula perspicillata, Linn. Surf Duck.
Plate CCCXVII. Male and Female.
Bill with a gently sloping prominence in front, the lateral protuberances bare; tail wedge-shaped, of fourteen stiff narrow feathers. Male with the bill deep reddish-orange, bluish-white on the sides, with a black patch, the unguis greyish-yellow; tarsi and toes orange-red, webs dusky; plumage deep black, glossed with blue; a white patch on the top of the head, and another on the nape. Female with the bill greenish-black; the plumage brownish-black, darker on the top of the head, back, wings, and tail.
Male, 20, 331/2. Female, 19, 311/2.
Abundant from Nova Scotia to Maryland during winter, and removing southward to the mouth of the Mississippi in severe weather. Never seen in the interior. Breeds from Labrador northwards.
Black or Surf Duck, Anas perspicillata, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. viii. p. 49.
Fuligula perspicillata, Bonap. Syn. p. 389.
Oidemia perspicillata, Surf Duck, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 449.
Black or Surf Duck, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 416.
Surf Duck, Fuligula perspicillata, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 161.
404. 9. Fuligula Americana, Swains. American Scoter Duck.
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.