274 THE SCAUP. 
Not unfrequently several females deposit their eggs in the same 
nest ; and Dr. Kriiper states that in Iceland he once found 
twenty-two eggs in one nest. The eggs are deposited from the 
early part of June to the middle of July ; and when the female 
commences to incubate, she sits very close, not leaving the nest 
until the intruder is close to it. The normal number of eggs 
appears to be eight or nine. I possess a nest and seven eggs of 
this duck, taken by Mr. Meves on Oland, on the 5th July 1871. 
The nest consists only of grasses, without any down as lining ; 
and the eggs are uniform greyish stone buff in colour, and var 
in size from 2°45 by 1°67 to 2°5 by 1°77 inches.” 
I CAN give no original particulars of this species, I take the 
following from Macgillivray :— 
Male—Length, 20:0; expanse, 32°0; wing, 9'0; tail from 
insertion of feathers, 2°75 ; tarsus, 1°42; bill along ridge, 2°0. 
The bill is light greyish blue, or dull lead colour, with the 
nail blackish; the iris rich yellow; the edges of the eyelids 
dusky ; the feet pale greyish blue, darker on the joints; the 
membranes dusky ; the claws black. 
Female—Length, 180; expanse, 280; wing, 875; tail 
(as above,) 2:5; tarsus, 1°33; bill alone nidsae 1-32: 
Bill as in the male, but darker ; the feet dull leaden grey with 
the webs dusky. 
Doubtless a series of careful measurements in the flesh, such 
as we in India always record, would show considerable varia- 
tions. Specimens now before me measure :— 
Bill, straight from Bill, greatest 
Wing. margin of feathers 
8 a point width. 
é adult, England 560 Nato Xe) 1°85 0°88 
? adult, England aise ve, ORO I'9 0°85 
3 juv., Wooller Lake... Seay [5C) 1°7 0°87 
9 juv., Srinugger 258 ea Weal 1°6 0°78 
THE PLATE is very satisfactory, though, if my memory serves 
me correctly, Scaup swim rather deeper in the water. It has 
to be borne in mind that in many lights the sheen on the head 
of the male is purple and not green. Also that in many 
specimens the black zig-zag barring of the mantle is denser 
and more decided than in the specimen figured. Some females 
have the white band broader both on the forehead and lores, 
than in the specimen figured. In younger birds it does not 
extend to the forehead at all. My young male is very like 
the female figured, but is rather browner, no grey stippling on 
the mantle, a white chin (as in zyvoca), and the white band 
at the base of the upper mandible only just beginning to show. 
But for this, the yellow iris, the broad bill, and the white satin 
sheen of the abdomen, it might well be mistaken for zyvoca, 
under which name it stood for years in our museum. The 
