The SCOTERS (_Oidemia_) are birds of considerable size, with remarkably dark plumage. Their beak is moderately long, broad, irregularly swollen at its junction with the forehead, and bright coloured. The tarsi are short, the toes long and large, and the wings of medium length; the tail, which is wedge-shaped, consists of fourteen feathers; the soft and velvety plumage only exhibits colour on the head and wings. All the species belonging to this group are inhabitants of high latitudes, and breed within the Arctic Circle. THE VELVET SCOTER. The VELVET SCOTER (_Oidemia fusca_), one of the species most common in Great Britain, is coal-black, with the exception of a spot beneath the eye, and another on the wing, which are white; the beak is bright yellowish red, marked with black at the edges and at its base; the feet are pale flesh-red, varied with black at the joints; the eye is pearl-white. The female is dark brown, with the exception of a white spot in the region of the ear, a white patch upon the wing, a yellowish bridle-streak, and a grey place upon the centre of the breast. Her eye is brown, her beak black, and her foot greenish yellow. The length of this species is twenty-four inches; the breadth forty inches; the length of the wing twelve inches, and that of the tail three inches and a half. The range of the Velvet Scoter extends from the northern parts of Scandinavia eastward as far as America. In the north of Russia and Siberia it is common. During its excursions it not only visits our shores, but goes still further southwards, and has occasionally been seen even upon the coasts of Spain and in Greece, but rarely shows itself inland. It makes its appearance in our latitudes late in the year, generally about the middle of November or the beginning of December, and returns to its northern home early in the spring. In the neighbourhood of the Gulf Stream, where the sea remains open, it may be met with throughout the winter, frequenting the fjords and bays, sometimes in numerous flocks, at others only in small parties, and seldom visits the shores. The Velvet Scoter walks and flies badly, but swims well and dives admirably. Naumann states that it is less shy than the generality of its race, a statement which we cannot subscribe to; in Norway, at least, we have always observed it to be one of the most timid and circumspect of diving birds. The food of these Ducks consists principally of bivalve shell-fish; in their breeding-places they may likewise procure insects, worms, and probably small fishes; but it is upon the bivalve molluscs that they chiefly feed, and to obtain these they will even leave their brooding-ground and fly out to sea. They have also been observed to feed upon vegetable substances.