Scaup Duck 75 
than the other shows to the males her sexual desires, and at once all the males crowd round 
her and display their agility and charm by extravagant attitudes or the exhibition of some 
prominent feature of beauty. Many males will crowd a female to gain her love, but the 
prize is neither given freely to the strongest nor the swiftest. More generally she takes a 
fancy to some particular drake (as described in the Nat. Hist, of British Surface-feeding 
Ducks), and will pursue him to the exclusion of others. After the two are once paired she 
keeps closely to him alone, and seems to delight in seeing other rivals driven off by her 
mate. 
We must take no notice of the somewhat unnatural associations of ducks in confine- 
ment, when one male will sometimes have several wives, or one duck have more than one 
husband, for although such polygamous and polyandrous marriages do take place in a wild 
state, they are not the general rule. I have seen both female Pochard and Eider so desperate 
in their attentions to one male whose love they sought, that they would themselves rush out 
and drive away other males that came near. Most females are not, however, so singular in 
their affections, but rather at first seem to enjoy the bustle, fuss, and fighting that takes 
place on their behalf. 
The male Scaup anxious to pair approaches the female with head and neck held up to 
their fullest extent, the bill being raised in the air to an angle of 50 to 60°. If the female 
responds to this she also lifts the neck stiffly, at the same time uttering a crooning sort of note 
like the words " Tuc-tuc-turra-tuc." If alarmed, or pretending to be so, she swims away 
quickly with powerful strokes, uttering her quacking cry, " Scaar-scaarr." When paired 
the female often comes up to the male and bows her head gently several times. The actual 
show of the male is a quick throw up of the head and neck, which is greatly swollen with 
air as it extends. At the summit of extension the bird utters a gentle cry like the words 
''Pa-whoo," only uttered once. As he makes this show, the female sometimes swims 
round him, lowering the head and dipping the bill in the surface of the water and making a 
gentle call, " Chup-chup," or " Chup-chup-cherr-err." Quite as frequently the cry of the 
male is uttered after the head is raised and slightly lowered. The male also utters a very low 
whistle. Except the harsh loud cry of the female, all these calls of pairing Scaup are very 
low in tone, and the spectator must be within a few yards of the birds to hear them. In 
consequence the courtship is very difficult to observe in the case of birds in a wild state, 
and as the birds are seldom seen in perfect health in confinement, the Scaup Spring Show 
has not been previously recorded. The birds in my picture were drawn from life at 
Scampston in Yorkshire, on May i, 191 1. I have seen Scaup courting in the Zoological 
Gardens, Regent's Park, but these did not seem so happy, nor did they display themselves 
so well as at Scampston. 
Mr. Gerald Legge writes to say that the male Scaup in courtship will also suddenly 
draw back the head and neck with a quick jerk, something like the throw of the male 
Pochard, but with the difference that the head is always held horizontally, and not turned 
over with the throat uppermost. He has only seen this once, but the attitude is probably 
frequently used. 
The breeding home of the Scaup lies far to the north in the New and the Old World. 
In Norway not below 60° north lat., Greenland, Iceland, and the Tundras of Arctic Russia 
and North America, though it now seems to be showing a greater inclination to extend its 
