8 SCAUP DUCK. 
rump and tail-coverts, black; tail, short, rounded, and of a 
dusky brown ; belly, white, crossed near the vent with waving 
lines of ash ; vent, black ; legs and feet, dark slate. 
Such is the colour of the bird in its perfect state. Young 
birds vary considerably, some having the head black, mixed 
with gray and purple, others the back dusky, with little or no 
white, and that irregularly dispersed. 
The female has the front and sides of the same white ; head 
and half of the neck, blackish brown ; breast, spreading round 
to the back, a dark sooty brown, broadly skirted with whitish ; 
back, black, thinly sprinkled with grains of white; vent, whit- 
ish ; wings the same as in the male. 
The windpipe of the male of this species is of a large diame- 
ter ; the labyrinth similar to some others, though not of the 
largest kind; it has something of the shape of a single cockle- 
shell ; its open side, or circular rim, covered witha thin trans- 
parent skin. Just before the windpipe enters this, it lessens 
its diameter at least two-thirds, and assumes a flattish form. 
The scaup duck is well known in England. It inhabits 
Iceland and the more northern parts of the continent of Europe, 
Lapland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It is also common on 
the northern shores of Siberia. It is very frequent on the 
river Ob. Breeds in the north, and migrates southward in 
winter. It inhabits America as high as Hudson’s Bay, and 
retires from this place in October.* 
* Latham, 
