scaup

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

scaup, n. [See Scalp a bed of oysters or mussels.].

•  A bed or stratum of shellfish; scalp.  [1913 Webster]
•  A scaup duck. See below.  [1913 Webster]

Scaup duck (Zoöl.), any one of several species of northern ducks of the genus Aythya, or Fuligula. The adult males are, in large part, black. The three North American species are: the greater scaup duck (Aythya marila, var. nearctica), called also broadbill, bluebill, blackhead, flock duck, flocking fowl, and raft duck; the lesser scaup duck (A. affinis), called also little bluebill, river broadbill, and shuffler; the tufted, or ring-necked, scaup duck (A. collaris), called also black jack, ringneck, ringbill, ringbill shuffler, etc. See Illust. of Ring-necked duck, under Ring-necked. The common European scaup, or mussel, duck (A. marila), closely resembles the American variety.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

scaup, n. any diving duck of the genus Aythya.

Etymology

scaup Sc. var. of scalp mussel-bed, which it frequents