272 THE SCAUP. 
or those portions of Chinese Tibet which he visited. Neither 
was it observed by any of our Yarkand Expeditions, nor does 
Severtzoff record it from Western Turkestan. As yet we 
have no knowledge of its occurrence in Afghanistan, Beluchis- 
tan or the interior of Persia; but it certainly occurs in the 
Caspian, was found breeding commonly on the Boganida* 
(N. Lat. 70°), and has been observed or procured in winter or 
in passage in various parts of South-east Siberia, at Lake Baikal, 
in Darasun, and in the Sea of Ochotsk. In winter it is common 
on the coasts of Asia Minor, Palestine, the northern extremity 
of the Red Sea and Lower Egypt, and has been observed on 
the coast of Algiers. 
Everywhere, almost, on the coasts of Europe, (including 
those of Iceland, the British and intervening islands) the Scaup 
occurs, rare as a rule, on the Southern or Mediterranean coast, 
very common on the north-western and Baltic coasts ;—breeding 
in abundance in Iceland, almost throughout Scandinavia, and 
in Northern Russia, and seen commonly or occasionally, chiefly 
on passage only, inland in many, if not most, parts of that 
Continent. 
It is found along the entire west coast of North America, 
so far as this lies within the temperate zone; it breeds in the 
Hudson’s Bay territory, at the Great Slave Lake and in other 
parts of Northern America; and has been met with in winter 
on the east coast as far south as Texas and at the Bermudas. 
Coincident with this species in North America is a smaller,’ 
barely separable form, the Lesser Scaup or little Black-head, 
F., affinis, Eyton, which, while breeding quite as far north, pushes 
in winter much further south, z¢, to the West Indies and 
Guatemala, to which mari/a does not, it is believed, extend. 
This lesser species has also straggled to Great Britain. 
OF THE habits of this species in India there is naturally as 
yet nothing to record. Dresser says :—“It frequents the sea 
coast, and is but rarely met with on inland waters, being 
found in bays and estuaries, frequently in large flocks. It 
dives with ease, obtaining its food chiefly by diving, and is 
often seen in company with the true diving ducks. It swims 
fast, and often sits deep in the water; and it flies with tolerable 
speed, usually at no great altitude above the surface of the 
water, and alights abruptly, as do most of the ducks, on its 
hind parts. Mr. Cordeaux says, the Scaups are ‘usually the 
last ducks to leave our waters in the spring. I have seen them 
off the coast in this parish late in May, the very latest occur- 
rence being a single bird, an old male, on the 24th of that 
month. These ducks appear to keep in pairs, male and female, 
* Many species that elsewhere scarcely enter the Arctic regions appear to range 
well within them in the great Northern Asiatic promontory. 
