ANATID&;. 453 



[212.] 3. Fuligula marila. (Bonap.) The Scaup Duck. 



Sub-family, Fuligulinas, Swains. Genus, Fuligula, Ray. 



Anas marila. Forst. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 413, No. 29. 



Scaup Duck {Anas marila). Penn., Arct. Zool, ii., p. 5G5, No. 498. 



Wils., viii., p. 84, pi. 79, f. 3. 

 Fuligula marila. Bonap. Syn., p. 392, No. 340. 

 Tawquawgew-'sheep. Crees and Saulteur Indians. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a male, killed on the Saskatchewan. 



Colour. — Head and upper part of the neck black, reflecting deep violet and green ; lower 

 part of the neck, posterior part of the back, the breast, and under tail coverts, pitch-black ; 

 scapulars and interscapulars greyish-white, rather coarsely undulated with black. Wings 

 hair-brown, the primaries paler in the middle ; the secondaries white, with brown tips; the 

 tertiaries glossed with green ; and the lesser coverts and inner tertiaries finely dotted or undu- 

 lated with white. Belly greyish-white, mixed with greyish-brown posteriorly ; flanks pure 

 white, the tips slightly undulated. Bill greyish-blue. Irides yellow. Legs blackish- brown. 



Form, typical. — Bill rather shorter than the head, wide, much depressed and obviously 

 broadest before the nostrils ; pitted near the point; the unguis small and distinct, as in the 

 two last species. Lamina strong, cutting : upper ones entirely within the margin of the 

 mandible. Head rather large. Wings an inch and a quarter shorter than the tail ; first 

 quill the longest. 



Our specimens are smaller than English ones killed in the winter, the head, bill, wings, 

 and legs, in particular, being proportionally 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) tawquawgew-'sheep ;" but 

 an attentive examination of a number of specimens disclosed no peculiarities 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 specimens. 







Dimensions. 













Small var. 



Large var. 



English. 







Small var. 



Large var. 



Eng! 



Ish. 



Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 







Inch. Lin. 



Inch. Lin. 



Inch. 



Lin. 



Length, total . . 18 



21 



20 



Length 



. of tarsus 



1 4 



1 6 



1 



6 



„ of tail . . .28 



3 



2 8 



55 



of middle toe 



. 2 1 



2 5£ 



2 



4 £ 



„ of wing . . 7 9 



8 10 



8 10 



55 



of middle nail 



4 



4± 







4 



„ of bill above . .16^ 



1 10 



i H 



55 



of hind toe 



. 6 



7i 







7 



„ of bill to frontal angle 1 9 



2 1* 



2 1 



55 



of hind nail 



If 



H 







2 



,, of bill to rictus . 2 1 



2 6 



2 4^ 















— R. 



* One of these varieties (if such they be) is common upon the lakes of Mexico. — Sw. 



