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Show 412 MR. R. SWINHOE ON A CHINESE SCAUP DUCK. [Apr. 1, that Mr. Yarrell mentions under the head " American Scaup," which was brought home by Capt. Beechey from Behring's Straits, and was apparently identified with that species. Sir John Richardson suggests for this Pacific species the name mariloides, which is usually regarded as a synonym of affinis. But I think it can now be shown that F. mariloides is a species of itself, and a visitant to the Chinese coast. Fuligula marila also occurs here in abundance ; and I have a fine male specimen from Amoy. A female that I procured in Amoy, however, was so small that I referred it to F. cristata, when Mr. Tristram pointed out its entire want of crest and the speckling on its back, and said it must be Fulix marila. It must, I think, have been F. mariloides. I suppose that H.M.S. 'Blossom's' collections are preserved somewhere in England. It would be interesting for any lover of Ducks to examine the Scaups brought home from Behring's Straits. I have now got some of our birds alive, and will do my best to send them to the Society's Gardens, that there their habits may be compared with those of the true Fulix marila*. I will now give a description of an adult male and female of the Duck, which I have carefully examined. Male. Length 17*25 inches ; wing 8| inches ; tail 2\ inches, of 14 pointed tail-feathers, centrals longest, giving a roundish wedge-shape to the whole. Bill greyish blue, dertrum and outer edge of tip black. Feet and legs yellowish plumbeous, dark grey in joints, and blackish on webs; tarsi 1 *5 inch; middle toe and claw 2| inches. Head black, with faint dull purplish reflections, and a few green-reflecting feathers on ear-coverts and sides of neck ; middle of neck brownish ; the black of the lower hind neck freckled with yellowish brown. Back and scapulars with less white and more black wavings ; wing-coverts only slightly vermiculated with whitish. Wings, rump, and tail much as in Fulix marila. Flanks waved with black, and large abdominal flank-feathers washed with liver-brown, and finely waved with black. Female. Adult much like the male, but browner about the head and neck, with a roundish patch of white on each lore, which is apparently diminishing and being filled in with the blackish brown of the cheeks. Back with less white ; flanks browner, with less vermiculations ; under wing less white. Length 16 inches; wing 8| inches ; tail 2*3 inches, of 14 feathers. Bill darker than in the male. A younger female is a lighter, more uniform, plain brown, the white round the bill being confined to the two lores and chin-angle. Back speckled with white. Young male. Brown, like the young female, but with rich yellowish brown on the head and lower neck, more marked with white on the back and scapulars ; is larger, has the flanks more patched with brown, as also the abdomen ; is dingier on the belly, and has a broad patch of white all round the bill. I dissected the adult male and female. The stomachs were large * Three of these birds arrived alive, but died shortly afterwards. See antea, p. 312.-P. L. S. |