The Bird Book Part 19

A handsome and very different species from any of the foregoing, having the crown ashy blue, and the long scapulars black instead of white. It also has a broad V-shaped mark on the throat. Like all the other Eiders, the female is mottled brown and black, the different species being very difficult to separate. The nests are sunk in the ground and lined with down. Eggs number from six to ten. Size 2.80 1.80. Data.--Point Barrow, Alaska, July 5, 1898. Five eggs. Nest a hollow in the moss on tundra lined with moss and down. Collector, E. A. McIlhenny.

163. SCOTER. _Oidemia americana._

Range.--Northern North America, breeding from Labrador, the Hudson Bay region and the Aleutian Islands northward; winters south to Virginia, the Great Lakes and California.

Scoters or "Coots" as they are generally called are sea ducks whose plumage is almost wholly black; they have fantastically colored and shaped bills. The American Scoter is entirely black without markings; base of bill yellow and orange. This species nest as do the Eiders, often concealing the nest, of gra.s.s and feathers, under some overhanging rock. They lay from six to ten eggs of a dingy buff color. Size 2.50 1.70. Data.--Mackenzie Bay, June 15, 1899. Ten eggs. Nest a hollow in the sand, lined with down.

[Ill.u.s.tration 106: King Eider. Scoter.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Buff.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

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164. VELVET SCOTER. _Oidemia fusca._

An Old World species that has accidentally occurred in Greenland.

165. WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. _Oidemia deglandi_.

Range.--Abundant in North America, breeding from Labrador, North Dakota and British Columbia, northward. Wintering south to the Middle States, southern Illinois and southern California.

The largest of the Scoters, length 22 inches, distinguished by a large white speculum on the wing, also a white comet extending from under the eye backwards. It also has a yellow eye. Like the other Scoters, this species often feeds in very deep water. They are strong, active diving birds, and are also strong on the wing, generally flying close to the surface of the water. Their flesh is not regarded as good eating, although they are often sold for that purpose. They nest on the ground, generally in long gra.s.s or under low bushes making a coa.r.s.e nest of gra.s.ses, and sometimes twigs, lined with feathers. They lay from five to eight eggs of a pale buff color. Size 2.75 1.85.

166. SURF SCOTER. _Oidemia perspicillata._

Range.--Northern North America, breeding north of the United States boundary, and wintering south to Virginia and southern California.

The male of this species is entirely black, except for the white patches on the forehead and nape, and the vari-colored bill of black, white, pink and yellow. They nest either along the coast or in the interior, building a nest lined with down, in the marsh gra.s.s bordering small ponds. They lay from five to eight buffy cream colored eggs. Size 2.40 1.70. The females of all the Scoters are a dingy brownish color, but show the characteristic marking of the species, although the white is generally dull or sometimes mottled. Data.--Mackenzie River, June 25, 1894. Six eggs in a nest of down on an island in the river.

[Ill.u.s.tration 107: Surf Scoter. White-winged Scoter.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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167. RUDDY DUCK. _Erismatura jamaicensis._

Range.--Whole of North America, breeding chiefly north of the United States border except locally on the Pacific coast. Winters along the Gulf and through Mexico and Central America.

This peculiar species may always be recognized by the brownish or chestnut upper parts, blackish crown, white cheeks and silvery white underparts. The bill is very stout and broad at the end, and the tail feathers are stiff and pointed like those of a Cormorant. They build their nests in low marshy places, either placing them on the ground near the water or in the rushes over it. Their nests are made of rushes and gra.s.ses, sometimes lined and sometimes not, with down from the parents breast. The eggs number from six to twelve and are grayish in color.

Size 2.40 1.75. Data.--Northern a.s.siniboia, Canada, June 6, 1901.

Eight eggs. Nest made of aquatic gra.s.ses, lined with down. Built in a tuft of rushes in a marsh. Collector, Walter Raine.

168. MASKED DUCK. _Nomonyx dominicus._

This is a tropical species which is resident in Mexico, Central America and in the West Indies. It occurs in Mexico north to the lower Rio Grande Valley and has in three known instances strayed to northern United States. The general plumage is a rusty chestnut, mottled with blackish, it has a black face and throat, with white wing bars.

[Ill.u.s.tration 108: Grayish white.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ruddy Duck. Masked Duck.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: deco.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]

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169. SNOW GOOSE. _Chen hyperboreus hyperboreus._

Range.--North America west of the Mississippi Valley, breeding in northern Alaska and the MacKenzie River district.

This smaller species of the Snow Goose nests on islands in rivers along the arctic coast. The nest is a depression in the ground, lined with gra.s.ses and, occasionally down. They lay from four to eight eggs of a buffy or yellowish white color. Size 2.75 1.75.

169a. GREATER SNOW GOOSE. _Chen hyperboreus nivalis._

Range.--Eastern North America, breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering chiefly on the Atlantic coast, south to Cuba.

This bird is like the preceding; except in size; about thirty-six inches, instead of twenty-six inches in length as is the lesser variety.

The entire plumage is white except for the black primaries. They construct their nests of gra.s.ses on the ground the same as the preceding variety. The eggs number from five to eight and are cream colored. Size 3.40 2.40.

169.1. BLUE GOOSE. _Chen caerulescens._

Range.--North America, princ.i.p.ally in the interior, breeding from Hudson Bay northward and wintering along the Gulf coast.

This species may always be recognized by the entirely white head and neck, the body being grayish or bluish gray. They nest on the ground as do the other geese laying from four to eight eggs of a brownish buff color. Size 2.50 1.75. Data,--Cape Bathurst, Arctic coast, June 29, 1899. Four eggs laid in a depression lined with gra.s.s, on an island.

Collected with the parent birds by the Esquimaux.

[Ill.u.s.tration 109: Grayish White.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lesser Snow Goose. Blue Goose.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]

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170. ROSS'S SNOW GOOSE. _Chen rossi._

Range.--This beautiful species, which is similar in plumage to the large Snow Goose, is but twenty-one inches in length. It breeds in the extreme north, and in winter is found in the western part of the United States as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. Their nesting habits and eggs probably do not differ from others in the family except in the matter of size.

171. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons albifrons._

This European species is exactly like the American except that it is said to average a trifle smaller. It is occasionally found in Greenland.

171a. AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons gambeli._

Range.--Whole of North America, breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering south to the Gulf coast; not common on the Atlantic coast during migrations.