58 



DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 



Scaup Duck. 



breeding plumage : similar to female 

 but darker brown. Adult female: head, 

 neck, chest, and sides brownish ; re- 

 gion around base of bill, and belly, 

 whitish. Length: 18-20, wing about 

 8.50, bill 2.03. 



Distribution. — Most of the northern 

 lieniisphere ; in North America breed- 

 ing- mainly north of the United States ; 

 south in winter to Guatemala and the 

 West Indies. 



Nest. — Usually in a marsh, or a de- 

 pression in grassy ground near water, 

 lined with down. Eggs : 9 to 12, pale 

 olive gray. 



The scaup duck, or blue-bill, is not 

 so generally common in the United 

 States as the lesser scaup, which 

 has essentially the same habits and is sometimes mistaken for it. 

 Flocks of both are found associated in the rice lakes, where the 

 report of a gun will sometimes start thousands into the air with the 

 roar of an avalanche. The two species are generally indistinguish- 

 able on the wing, and together often form the bulk of the ducks 

 seen during the early spring or late fall migration. 



Vernon Bailey. 



149. Aythya afl&nis (Eyt.). Lesser Scaup Duck. 



Like A. jnarila, but smaller, with black of head glossed with purple 

 instead of green, and sides more heavily lined with gray. Length : 15.00- 

 16.50, wing 7.50-8.25, bill 1.58-1.90, width of bill .80-.95. 



Distribution. — North America, south in winter to Guatemala, breed- 

 ing mainly north of the United States. 



Nest. — Similar to that of marila. Eggs : 7 to 9, pale olive gray. 



The lesser scaup, or little blue-bill, is abundant during migrations 

 over most of the United States, wintering from Okanagon and Lake 

 Chelan south to Guatemala, and in spring following north close to 

 the edge of the retreating ice, to breed mainly north of the United 

 States. 



Like all of the genus, the lesser scaups are great divers and keep 

 much in the open lakes, often in large flocks, where they dive for 

 food, or sleep and rest on the water in comparative safety. They 

 cannot resist the temptation of the rice lakes, however, and swarm 

 into them by thousands to fatten on the delicious grain, which they 

 glean from the mud bottoms after it has been threshed out by the 

 wind and the wings of myriads of coots and rails. While they eat, 

 the hunters lie hidden in the tall rice and on the ridges which they 

 must pass in going from lake to lake, and in spite of their bullet-like 

 flight the sadly thinned flocks show the penalty they have paid for 

 leaving the open water. Vernon Bailey. 



