The Velvet Scoter (*Melanitta fusca*), also called a Velvet Duck or whitewing (not to be confused with the white-winged scoter), is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and Asia west of the Yenisey basin. A small, isolated population nests in eastern Turkey. The East Siberian and North American White-winged Scoter is sometimes considered conspecific with the Velvet Scoter, and its two constituent subspecies are then known as *M. f. stejnegeri* and *M. f. deglandi*. Velvet and White-winged Scoter, along with the Surf Scoter, are placed in the subgenus *Melanitta*, distinct from the subgenus *Oidemia*, Black and Common Scoters.