Family ANATID^. Genus Fuligula. 



Subfamily Fuligulin^. 



SCAUP. 



FULIGULA yik^l'Lk.—{Linnxus). 



Geographical Distribution. — British: Common winter 

 visitor confined to the coasts and estuaries, where it is widely dis- 

 tributed. Least common in the Hebrides, and rare on the south 

 coasts of Ireland. Occasionally seen in summer in the Shetlands 

 and other parts of Scotland. The very circumstantial account of 

 this species breeding on Loch Leven, by Mr. A. C. Stark, published 

 in the Proceedings of ike Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh 

 (vii. p. 203), and quoted by Mr. Saunders in his Manual of 

 British Birds (although afterwards corrected in his appendix), 

 turns out to be a myth, there being no doubt whatever that the 

 Tufted Duck had been confused with and mistaken for it ! 

 Foreign : Circumpolar, northern Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, 

 more southerly in winter ; parts of Oriental region in winter. 

 Breeds in the Faroes and still more commonly in Iceland. 

 Breeds throughout the Arctic regions of Europe and Asia from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific as far north as lat. 70°, and at high 

 elevations on the mountains of South Scandinavia. In America 

 it breeds as far north as lat. 70° from east to west, but not lower 

 than the Hudson Bay Territory. The European birds winter on 

 the coasts of the Baltic, those of the southern German Ocean, not 

 so commonly on the Spanish coasts and the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean, but becoming more frequent in the Black Sea and on 

 the south coasts of the Caspian. In North-east Africa it has been 

 met with as low as Abyssinia. The Asiatic birds appear to winter 

 in Persia, North-western India, the Lake Baikal district, China, 

 Formosa, and Japan. The American birds winter on the great 



