158 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



posed of gTass stems, gathered close at hand, and a large fluffy bed of do^vn 

 plucked from the parent's breast. 



Three nests found in the delta of the Kowak Kiver, Alaska, are 

 thus described by Grinnell (1900, p. 15) : 



The nest was on a high dry hummock, about ten yards from the edge of 

 a lake. It was almost hidden from view by tall, dead grass of the previous 

 3'ear 's growth. The eggs rested on a bed of finely broken grass stems, while 

 the rim of the nest was indicated by a narrow margin of down. This nest 

 contained eleven fresh eggs. A second set of ten fresh eggs was taken on the 

 same day (June 14, 1899). The nest was similar in construction, but was 

 out on the tundra between two lakes, and fully a quarter of a mile from 

 either. A set of seven fresh eggs taken on the loth was quite differently 

 situated. The nest was almost without feathers or down, and consisted of a 

 neat saucer of matted dry grass-blades, supported among standing marsh grass 

 and about four inches above the water. It was in a broad marshy swale 

 about thirty feet from a small pond of open water. 



The following paragraph provides facts as to the summer habits 

 of the Greater Scaup in the Norton Sound region of Alaska : 



The first days of June is the time usually chosen for depositing the first 

 eggs, and some are not laid until nearly a month later. On August 16, 1878, 

 several broods of young, from one-half to two-thirds grown, were seen, and 

 on August 30, half-grown young were found in company with the female, 

 whose primaries and secondaries were just starting after her summer moult. 

 In the north as in the south these birds show a predilection for the larger 

 bodies of water, and at once after the young are hatched they are marshalled 

 off to the largest pond in the vicinity, so that it is a common occurrence to 

 find a pond with six or eight broods of these ducks united in a large flock, 

 whereas the other fresh water ducks keep in smaller pools and more than a 

 single brood in a pond is the exception (Nelson, 1887, p. 71). 



The eggs of the Greater Scaup Duck, in common with those of its 

 lesser relative, can be easily identified in comparison with those of 

 other ducks, by their darker and richer color which may be described 

 as rich olive buff (Bent, 1902, p. 165). Sets taken in northern 

 Alaska by the senior author are uniform deep olive buff. Twenty-one 

 eggs average in size 2.46 by 1.73 inches. 



In flying the Greater Scaup Duck rarely utters any note, but 

 when swimming leisurely about in calm weather it is said to give 

 utterance to a quick rattling or rolling sound (Baird, Brewer and 

 Eidgway, 1884, II, p. 21). Eaton (1910, p. 206) says that ducks of 

 this species utter a soft purring whistle when excited or when calling 

 to their mates, and rarely the discordant scaup, which when given is 

 screamed out in an exceptionally harsh, coarse voice. He adds: *'0n 

 two or three occasions I have heard a flock of scaups giving utterance 

 to these notes and the eft'ect M^as the loudest and most discordant 

 chorus of bird notes to which I ever listened, coming as it did from 

 scores of voices over the silent water." 



