256 NYROCA MARILA 



Farther east it is found commonly all along the coasts of China, about Hong-kong (Vaughan and 



Jones, 1913), Amoy (R. Swinhoe, 1860; Kershaw, 1904), Foochow (R. Swinhoe, 1865; 



La Touche, 1892; Martens, 1910), more sparingly on the lower Yangtse (Styan, 1891) 



and Kiau-chow (Kleinschmidt, 1913). Others winter in Korea (C. W. Campbell, 1892) and in the 



_ ' . interior as far north as the southern end of Lake Baikal (Radde, 1863). In Japan it 



Interior , , . , , . , ,-,,,, » 



probably winters throughout, and specimens have been recorded all the way from 



Japan Saghalin and Hakodadi to Nagasaki and Tanegashima in the Loo-choo group and to 



_,.... . Korea (Blakiston and Pryer, 1882; Seebohm, 1892; Ogawa, 1905; Kuroda, in litt.). 



Philippines , . N , , , 



It has also been recorded from Formosa (R. Swinhoe, 1863) and has once been taken 



on Luzon in the Philippines (R. C. McGregor, 1909). 



Migration 



In the New World the Scaup Duck seems to be much more of a northwest-southeast migrant than 

 many of the other ducks. The seasonal movement in the Mississippi Valley appears to be much less 

 North important than the one from the Great Lakes to Chesapeake Bay and the neighboring 



America regions. No observations have been published in connection with the distribution of 



sexes in winter in this country, but on Lynn Bay in Massachusetts, almost the northern limit of the 

 wintering range on the Atlantic coast, I have noted a tremendous preponderance of adult males over 

 females and young, the proportion being about three to one; sometimes five to one. Farther south, on 

 Pamlico Sound, Dr. H. B. Bigelow tells me that the reverse is true, and that in some years the brown 

 birds (females and young) outnumber the adult males fully five to one. Dr. A. A. Allen writes me 

 that at Lake Cayuga, New York, the excess of the males over the females is not so marked as in the 

 case of the Canvas-back. The ratio he estimates at about three to two. Adult males, he says, are 

 scarce there. From notes made by Major Allan Brooks at Comox on the east coast of Vancouver 

 Island on February 10, 1920, it appears that there the males outnumbered the females fully seven 

 to one. At the same place on the last day of February the sexes were as fourteen to three. In the 

 interior of British Columbia, at Okanagan Lake, on March 17, the males still comprised 65% of 

 the total. 



A great excess of males has been reported by various European writers. It does not seem certain 

 that the males always winter farther north. For example, Radde (1863) says only young birds winter 

 on Lake Baikal. Young birds have been noticed as preponderant in Ireland (W. Thompson, 1851) 

 and in Greece (von der Miihle, 1844). In the market of Angers, France, Rogeron (1903) also found 

 chiefly young birds. 



The Scaup is a hardy bird, and does not move south until the waters freeze. In the spring, on the 

 contrary, it stays late on the wintering grounds, due, no doubt, to the fact that its breeding grounds 

 in the far North do not break up until May and June. On the Atlantic coast it shows a tendency to 

 move slowly north in the spring, not cutting inland, it seems, until it has reached the latitude of New 

 England or even farther north. 



In consequence of these peculiarities the Greater Scaup cannot be spoken of as common, even on 

 migration, anywhere in the interior of our country, excepting in the Mississippi Valley and in those 

 States lying between the Great Lakes and the middle Atlantic coast. The Pacific coast birds seem to 

 come to the coast very far north, and do not cross over the interior of our West. As already remarked, 

 the species stays late in the spring. On Long Island Sound they are most abundant about April 10, 

 and on Lake Erie (Long Point) Blue-bills of both species are very numerous in the first half of April. 

 I have seen them around Boston up to the very end of the mouth and even then they did not seem to 

 be paired. They do not, however, reach their breeding grounds in northern Canada and Alaska until 

 May or early June. In the autumn they leave the breeding grounds late in September or early Octo- 

 ber and are seen passing over the United States throughout the latter month. On the Chesapeake 

 they do not appear in numbers till the very end of October and in November. 



