SUPPLEMENT TO BIRDS OF ESSEX COUNTY cy 



60 [149] Marila affinis (Eyt.). 



Lesser Scaup Duck ; " Little Bluebill." 



Common transient visitor in the autumn, rare in the spring. March 2 to 

 April 21 ; October 8 to November 27. 



Dr. J. C. PhilHps states' that a study of the Scaups taken at Wenham Lake 

 in 1904 and in 1908, 1909, and 1910, shows that about eighty per cent, are of the 

 Lesser species and twenty per cent, the Greater. For ten years the two species 

 combined represented thirteen per cent, of the entire bag. " The Lesser appears 

 at times in flocks of 12 to 25, while the large Scaup are often single, or three or 

 four together. Nearly every flock of Redheads has had at least one or two Scaup 

 among them." 



On November 11, 1906, I saw twenty Lesser Scaup in Sagamore Pond. 



61 [150] Marila collaris (Donov.). 



Ring-necked Duck. 

 Rare transient visitor. 



I have five definite records to be added to the one in the original Memoir, as 

 well as the statement previously overlooked :" " it has been taken in several 

 instances in the Merrimack just below Haverhill." On April 7, 1889, one is 

 recorded by Damsell'' at Amesbury; one was shot at Newburyport on October 13, 

 1906, and is now in my collection, No. 1227 ; three were shot at Wenham Lake,' — 

 one each on October 9 and 26, 1907, and one on October 13, 1908. 



1 have had several excellent opportunities to study this bird in the Back Bay 

 Basin and in Leverett and Jamaica Ponds, in Boston. The ring is not a striking 

 feature as the brown does not contrast sharply with the blue-purple head and 

 neck and it may be covered by these feathers unless the neck is stretched. It 

 may easily escape notice. The markings on the bill are very noticeable : the body 

 of the bill is slate blue with a narrow white line at the base and at the end which 

 divides it from the black nail. Another good field-mark is the white triangle in 

 front of the bend of the wing, a marking that is lacking in the Lesser Scaup. The 

 back of the Ring-necked Duck is darker than that of the Lesser Scaup. The 

 latter bird has a white speculum while the Ring-necked Duck has a blue-gray one 



^ Phillips, J. C. Auk, vol. 28, p. 194, 191 1. 



2 Baird, S. F., Brewer, T. M., and Ridgway, R. Water Birds, vol. 2, p. 27, 1884. 



3 Allen, G. M. Auk, vol. 30, p. 22, 1913. 



