ORNITHOLOGY 



A FLOCK OF LESSER SCAUP DUCKS. 



At Daytona, a beautiful winter resort 

 situated on the Halifax River along the 

 Florida east coast, we observed thous- 

 ands of these birds — mostly the lesser 

 scaups — in the latter part of Novem- 

 ber, and spent a number of hours in 

 studying and photographing them. 

 They were active and quick-moving on 

 the water and are extremely rapid fli- 

 ers, and we found them difficult to 

 photograph on the wing. We noticed 

 a whistling sound produced by the 

 wings as the birds passed over our 

 heads. Usually in their feeding, and 

 while paddling about or resting on the 

 water they were altogether silent, al- 

 though occasionally a low whistling, 

 or "purring," would seem to run 

 through the flock. These flocks, wheth- 

 er large or small, appeared to be under 

 the leadership of some one bird. 

 Shortly before sunset they would be- 

 gin gathering for the night ; circling 

 'round and 'round over an area about 

 half a mile square on the water, grad- 

 ually closing in to form compact bun- 

 ches, and appearing like floating is- 

 lands in the river. 



Extending for twenty miles south of 

 Daytona, is the government bird pre- 

 serve known as "Mosquito Inlet Reser- 



vation," and large numbers of scaups 

 were noted among the many islands of 

 this area. 



Below Mosquito Lagoon the beauti- 

 ful Indian River winds southward for 

 about a hundred miles, being in some 

 places two to three miles wide ; its 

 banks bordered with palms and other 



SCAUP DUCKS IN FLIGHT, 



