220 ANATID^. 



In the female the darker parts are brown instead of 

 black, and the bill is slate colour, as are also the legs and 

 feet in both sexes. 



The Scaup is a very difficult bird to get within range 

 of, for though it only rises from the surface of the water 

 slowly and with difficulty, on account of the shortness of 

 its wings, it is extremely wary, and dives with extra- 

 ordinary rapidity. 



The Little Blue-bill {Fulix affinis) of Baird, the 

 American Scaup of Yarrell and Audubon,* by whom it 

 is correctly described as a distinct species of the above, 

 was apparently unknown to Wilson, and is simply men- 

 tioned by Sir John Eichardsonf and other naturalists 

 as a variety. The following are, however, remarkable 

 points of difference between the two : the inferior 

 size of the present bird as compared with the other ; 

 the lesser depth of its bill at the base, its smaller 

 head, the darker colour of its legs and feet, and the 

 deeper hue of the undulating mark on the back. The 

 breast and under parts are mottled grey instead of 

 being pure white; there is less grey on the former 

 part, and the plumage of the head and neck are plum- 

 coloured in place of black, as in the other. It is even 

 more difficult to obtain a specimen of this than of the 



* Ornith. Biog. f Fauna Boreal. Amer. 



