AMERICAN SCAUP DUCK. 
BIG BLACKHEAD. BLUEBILL. 
Avthva MARILA NEARCTICA. 
Char. Male; head, neck, and breast black, with green reflections; 
back and sides white, marked with fine waved lines of black ; rump, wings, 
and tail browni.sh black ; wing-patch while ; belly white, pencilled with 
black; vent and under tail-coverts black; bill leaden blue, with a lilack 
“nail” at the tip; legs gray, feet blackish. Female: general plumage 
of upper parts dull brown; band of white at base of bill; wing-patch 
white. 
Nest. Amid rank herbage near a lake or stream ; a rude structure of 
loosely laid grass and sedges, lined with feathers. 
Aggr. 6-10; pale buff tinged with olive, — sometimes tinged with 
drab; 2.55 X 1.70. 
This species, better known in .America by the name of the 
Biuebill, is another general inhabitant of the whole northern 
hemisphere, passing the period of reproduction in the remote 
and desolate hyperboreal regions, whence at the approach of 
winter it issues over the temperate iwrts of Europe as far as 
