SCAUP DUCK. 



429 



In the female, which is so different in appearance as to 

 have been described as a distinct species under the name of 

 the White-faced Duck, the head and neck are of a dark brown 

 colour ; the beak lead -colour ; around the base of the beak 

 in old females, a broad band of white ; the lower part of 

 the neck and breast dark brown ; the back and scapulars 

 light grey, transversely barred with irregular dusky lines ; 

 the greater quill-feathers dark brown ; the secondaries 

 white, tipped with dark brown ; the tail-feathers also dark 

 brown ; the belly dirty-white ; under tail-coverts dusky- 

 black ; the legs and toes dusky-blue, the webs black. The 

 female is nearly as large as the male, and from the broad 

 white band occasionally to be found around the base of the 

 bill, has been figured and described as a distinct species 

 under various names. 



Young birds resemble the females, generally, but the light 

 colour on the back is varied with brown spots. By the 

 month of January the young male has nearly assumed the 

 glossy black head, but the mottled whitish patch at the base 

 of the bill is still present, and the breast is still brownish 

 and not black. 



The nestling is unspotted umber-brown above, yellowish- 

 brown to white on the under parts ; hardly to be distin- 

 guished from the young of the Tufted Duck, unless by the 

 somewhat greater breadth of its bill at the point. 



