704 THE AMERICAN SCAUP DUCK. 
No. 318. 
AMERICAN SCAUP DUCK. 
A. O. U. No. 148. Marila marila (Linn. ). 
Synonyms.—Scaurp. Greater Scaup. Biue-sinn. SHurrrer. Rarr 
Duck. BLack-HEAD. FLockinGc Duck. 
Description.—Adult male: Head and neck black with green gloss; foreneck 
all around and breast rich purplish black; a collar around neck obscurely lighter; 
belly and sides pure white; back and scapulars vermiculate or wavy-barred black 
and white—the white bars wider in front, becoming much narrower behind; ter- 
tiaries, lower back, and tail-coverts sooty black; flanks sooty brown; wing-coverts 
blackish, speckled sparingly on tips with white; speculum white, tipped with 
blackish; axillars and under wing-coverts chiefly white; bill dull blue with black 
nail, broadening and much hooked at tip; feet dark plumbeous and with darker 
webs; iris yellow. Adult female: Region about base of bill (least on chin) 
white; head and neck plain snuff brown; fore-neck and breast dark brown, edged 
and tipped with lighter; sides and crissum dark grayish brown, the former de- 
cidedly, the latter obscurely vermiculated with white; belly white, shading into 
brown marginally; upperparts brownish dusky, the tips of feathers speckled or 
obscurely vermiculated with white; wings, bill, etc., as in male. Length 17.50- 
20.00 (444.5-508) ; wing 8.65 (219.7); tail 2.90 (73.7); bill 1.75 (44.5); tarsus 
1.50 (38.1). 
Recognition Marks.—Smaller than Mallard; head, neck and breast black 
(female brown) ; belly and sides white (male) ; bill bluish with black nail. Larger. 
Nesting.—Not known to breed in Washington. Nest: on the ground in a 
yrassy swamp, of grasses, etc., lined with feathers and down. Eggs: 6-10, pale 
grayish olive or buffy. Av. size 2.54 x 1.71 (64.5 X 43.4). 
General Range.—North America, breeding far north. South in winter to 
Guatemala. 
Range in Washington.—Common winter resident and migrant thruout the 
State ; abundant in winter on Puget Sound, especially in protected harbors. 
Authorities.—Fulix marila Baird, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX. 1858, 
p: 79%. T. C&S/L*. Rh DD" BeBe 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) Prov. B. BN. E. 
AT Semiahmoo Spit, upon our northern boundary, the Bluebills begin 
to arrive from the North about the 20th of September, and their numbers are 
augmented for at least a month thereafter. The earlier arrivals come in small 
flocks of from a dozen to twenty-five individuals, borne upon the wings of a 
northwest breeze, and as they pass the narrow promontory of sand, the waiting 
gunners exact toll of those which enter the harbor. Upon the waters of the 
inner bay, Drayton Harbor, the incoming birds assemble in a great raft, five or 
ten thousand strong, and, if undisturbed, deploy to dive in shallow water, 
