LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL. 207 



FULIX MARILA NEARCTICA (Stejneger). 

 AMERICAN SCAUP DITCK. 

 HABITS. 



The scaup duck of Europe, which is closely related to or perhaps 

 identical with our own bird, was so named, according to some of the 

 earlier writers, on account of its habit of feeding on the beds of broken 

 shellfish which are locally called scaup; but it is equally fair to as- 

 sume that its name may have been chosen from its resemblance to 

 one of its characteristic notes. The two American species of 

 scaup ducks resemble each other in general appearance and almost 

 intergrade in size and color, so much so that they have often been 

 confused; still intelligent gunners have long recognized two species of 

 " bluebills," one larger and one smaller. The subject of this sketch is 

 known to the gunners as the "big bluebill," "big blackhead," and a 

 variety of other names. It is very distinct from the lesser scaup in 

 its distribution and habits; it breeds much farther north over a much 

 wider area, which is practically circumpolar; its migration routes are 

 quite different; and its winter home is mainly on our more northern 

 seacoasts, where it is more of a salt-water duck than its smaller 

 relative. 



Spring. — From its principal winter home on the Atlantic coast the 

 spring migration is decidedly northwestward, through the Great Lake 

 region to the interior of Canada and Alaska; there is also a north- 

 ward migration up the Mississippi Valley and another northward, and 

 perhaps northeastward, from the Pacific coast. The species breeds 

 abundantly in northern Alaska, but we do not know positively whether 

 all of these birds have migrated from Pacific coast winter resorts or 

 not. Dr. F. Henry Yorke (1899) says of the spring migration in 

 the central valleys: 



The first issue stays but a short time, soon passing northward as fast as the ice dis- 

 appears, for they rarely leave the frost line until the ice has departed, working up in 

 the interior, through the lakes and overflowed bottoms below St. Louis, following be- 

 hind the ringbills. Some years they arri\e in great numbers, while at other seasons 

 they are very few. They prefer still to running water; naturally, large ponds and 

 lakes, bayous, bays, and inlets are their favorite resorts. 



Courtf^hi'p.—TYie: courtship of the scaup duck is described by Mr. 

 John G. Millais (1913) as follows: 



The male scaup anxious to pair approaches the female with head and neck held up 

 to their fullest extent, the bill being raised in the air to an angle of 50° to 60°. If the 

 female responds to this she also lifts the neck stifTly, at the same time uttering a croon- 

 ing sort of note like the words Tuc-tuc-turra-luc . If alarmed, or pretending to be so, 

 she swims away qmckly with powerful strokes, uttering her quacking cry, Scaar-scaar. 

 When paired the female often comes up to the male and bows her head gently several 

 times. The actual show of the male is a quick throw up of the head and neck, which 

 is greatly ewollen with air as it extends. At the summit of extension the bird uttera 



