88 
SCAUP DUCK. 
mage of a dai k glossy green, extending half way down the neck ; 
rest of the neck and breast black, spreading round to the back ; 
back and scapulars white, thickly crossed with waving lines of 
black ; lesser coverts dusky, powdered with veins of whitish ; outer 
primaries, and tertials, brownish black, the latter with a greenish 
gloss ; inner primaries and secondaries white, tipt with black, form- 
ing the speculum ; rump and tail-coverts black ; tail short, rounded, 
and of a dusky brown ; belly white, crossed near the vent with 
waving lines of ash ; vent black ; legs and feet dark slate. The 
crown of the adult male is sometimes of a changeable purple, or 
rather it appears either black or purple, according to its position 
with respect to the rays of light. 
Such is the color of the bird in its perfect state. Young birds 
^•ary considerably, some having the head black mixed with gray 
and purple; others the back dusky with little or no white, and that 
irregularly dispersed. 
The female is less than the male, and has the front and lores 
white ; head and half of the neck blackish brown, in some speci- 
mens of a chestnut brown, particularly young females ; breast, 
spreading round to the back, a dark sooty brown, broadly skirted 
with whitish; back and scapulars black, thinly sprinkled with 
grains of white, in young females umber brown ; vent whitish ; 
wings the same as in the male. Weight, when in good condition, 
upwards of two pounds and a quarter. 
The M'indpipe of the male of this species is of lai*ge diame- 
ter ; the labyrinth similar to some others, though not of the largest 
kind ; it has something of the shape of a single cockle-shell ; its 
open side or circular rim covered with a thin transparent skin. 
Just before the windpipe enters this, it lessens its diameter at least 
two thirds, and assumes a flattish form. 
The Scaup Duck is well known in England. It inhabits Ice- 
land and the more northern parts of the continent of Europe, Lap- 
land, Sweden, Norway, and Russia. It is also common on the 
