It is very common round all our coasts, but commonest, perhaps, in the North Sea, where flocks of many thousands may often be seen during the winter months.
The main breeding grounds are the wide tundras of Northern Europe and Siberia, but a few pairs nest in the north of Scotland. The nest is usually placed on an islet in a small lake or mere, and composed of a few tufts of moss and heather lined with down. The eggs, eight or nine in number, are yellowish white in colour. As a rule it is a silent species, but during the breeding season the male utters a flute-like "tui, tui, tui."
[Illustration: COMMON SCOTER _Oedemia nigra_]
The male of this species is of a deep black all over, whence it is often locally known as the "Black Duck." Bill black with a bright patch of orange yellow down the centre of the upper mandible. The female and young are sooty brown and lack the orange on the bill. Length 20 in.; wing 9 in.
THE VELVET SCOTER Oedemia fusca (Linnæus)
This species closely resembles the last in habits, but is much scarcer round our coasts and generally keeps farther out to sea.
It is a rather larger bird than the Common Scoter, and of a dense velvety black, with a small white spot behind each eye and a white bar across the wing. The bill is orange yellow, with a large black basal knob and a narrow dark line along the culmen. Legs orange. The female is brown, rather lighter underneath, and has a dull white patch before, and a smaller one behind, each eye. Bill dark. Legs reddish. Length 22 in.; wing 10·75 in.
THE SURF SCOTER Oedemia perspicillata (Linnæus)
This North American species has on several occasions occurred on our coasts.
The male may be at once distinguished from the other Scoters by the presence of a broad patch of white on the forehead and another on the nape. In the female the nape patch is present though often indistinct. There is no white bar across the wing. Length 21 in.; wing 9·5 in.
The Goosander is the first of the three species of "Sawbills" that are found in this country. Unlike other Ducks, the bill is moderately long and narrow, and both mandibles have a very rough toothed surface enabling them easily to secure and hold their prey, which consists entirely of fish. They are all expert divers. On the east coast of England this species is not uncommon during the winter months, frequenting estuaries and freshwater lakes, but in the south and west it is of irregular occurrence. In Scotland it is known to nest in a few localities, but on the west coast and in Ireland it is decidedly rare. The nest is placed down a hole among rocks, or in a tree, and in Sweden and Lapland it makes extensive use of the nest-boxes put up for it and other species by the Lapps. The eggs, which may be as many as thirteen in number, are creamy white. The note is a very harsh "kaar," and when swimming this bird is not unlike a Cormorant in general outline. When wounded it will always attempt to escape by diving.