348 ANATID^E. 



applied to it the specific term mariloides, as mentioned by 

 the late Mr. Vigors, in a quotation to be hereafter noticed. 



The British Scaup Duck is well known in the United 

 States, and the accounts of the American ornithologists, 

 Messrs. Wilson, Audubon, and Nnttall, appear to refer to 

 the species which immediately precedes the present subject 

 in this work. 



Sir W. Jardine, writing of the Scaup Duck, observes, 

 " In the Northern Zoology, the American specimens are 

 said to be smaller, but no other distinctions could be per- 

 ceived ; a single northern specimen which I possess, agrees 

 nearly with the dimensions given of the smaller kind, and 

 I can see no other important difference ; but there are also 

 larger-sized birds, known to the natives by the addition 

 of JceetcJiee to the name, and I think it probable that two 

 birds may be here confused, which future observations will 

 allow us to separate."" 



Mr. Audubon, in his last work on the Birds of America, 

 which is but recently concluded, admits marila and 

 mariloides as distinct species. 



Dr. Richardson's remarks on the Scaup Duck in the 

 Fauna Boreali- Americana, are as follows : " Our speci- 

 mens are smaller than English ones killed in the winter, 

 the head, bill, wings, and legs, in particular, being propor- 

 tionally smaller, and the bill less high at the base. A 

 variety, nearly corresponding with the English one in size, 

 is also found in the fur-countries, where it is distinguished 

 by the epithet of keetchee (bigger) : but an attentive ex- 

 amination of a number of specimens, disclosed no peculiari- 

 ties which could characterise it as a distinct species, except 

 its size. The undulated markings on the back and wings 

 are darker, and less extended than in the English speci- 

 mens." Mr. Swainson adds in a note at the bottom of the 



