Scaup Duck 
67 
a number of new rich reddish-brown feathers. The white on the face is much faded and 
speckled with small brown feathers. Except for the wings, the lighter face markings, and 
size, the female Scaup bears a strong resemblance to the female Tufted Duck at this date. 
The weight of four adult female Scaup, taken December 1891, was 33, 34, 35, and 35 oz. 
Immature Female. — The young female in first plumage is somewhat like the young 
White-Eye, but is larger (especially the bill). A distinguishing feature is the somewhat 
brownish-white lores and chin, which in the White-Eye is pale brown. In young female 
Scaup the forehead is generally brown, not white, as we should expect. The head, neck, 
chest, and region of the vent is pale brown ; mantle dark brown, finely vermiculated with 
grey ; scapulars dark brown, with light sandy-brown edges ; wing-coverts, rump, and tail 
similar to adult female, only less rich in colour ; tail of immatures always brown at the tips ; 
flanks, pale brown, edged with sandy yellowish brown ; wings similar to adults, only less 
vermiculated ; bill similar to adults, only darker ; feet also darker. A gradual moult con- 
tinues from October until the spring, when the young female has assumed a dark brown 
head, and the whole plumage is very similar to the adult, except that a large number of 
immature feathers are retained on the flanks, a few on the scapulars, and the greater part of 
the lower chest. Like nearly all immature plumaged duck, young female Scaup do not pair 
and breed the first spring, but keep apart in parties on the breeding grounds, gradually 
moulting their immature dress. In August the principal moult takes place, and by October 
the female full dress is assumed, i.e. at fifteen months. The female pairs and breeds 
the second spring, but its full beauty is not reached until the third year. In the immature 
state the irides of both young males and females are yellowish-brown. 
Breeding Range. 
British Isles. — During my constant journeys amongst the northern lakes of Scotland 
and the Orkneys and Shetlands, I always expected to find the first breeding place of the 
Scaup in our islands, and took more than one journey for the express purpose of finding 
the nest on certain lochs where pairs of Scaup were spending the summer, but was always 
disappointed. I had known Scaup to stay annually throughout the summer on Loch 
Stenness, Orkneys, and in July 1888 my boatman stated he had found the nest. I left 
London by the first train, and two days later shot the female, which proved to be a Tufted 
Duck, from the nest. The same day I saw two pairs of Scaup on the lake. This was the 
first of my disappointments, for the Scaup continued to frequent Loch Stenness in summer. 
I have little doubt they bred there, or on Loch Harray, for I shot young birds just able to 
fly at the end of August. There are lakes in the Shetlands where it is possible to see Scaup 
every summer, but there is no authentic record of their breeding there yet ; and this is some- 
what curious, for both the Orkney and Shetland birds there noted in summer were adults, 
sometimes evidently paired, and not immatures or "pricked " birds unable to migrate. The 
first nest of the Scaup found in our islands was discovered by Captain Sandeman and Mr. 
Heatley Noble on a loch in Sutherland [A. S. N. Hist., 1899, p. 215). It contained nine 
eggs. In the Outer Hebrides Scaup have nested almost regularly since 1897. Mr. J. H. 
Harvie-Brown states (A. S. N. Hist., 1902, p. 211) that nesting took place ''south of the 
Sound of Harris" in 1897, 1898, 1899 (two pairs); 1900 (three pairs) ; probably in 1901, and 
certainly in 1902. Scaup bred in South Uist in 1902 [A. S. N. Hist., 1903, p. 76), evidently 
a record of the same birds. A nest with nine eggs was found in the Uists in 1906 (N. B. 
