LESSEE SCAUP DUCK 159 



Due to its habit of "rafting," or resting on the water in close 

 flocks during the daytime, this duck has sometimes been termed "Raft 

 Duck." It is a good diver and obtains practically all of its food in 

 this way. When wounded it seeks safety in diving or skulking under 

 overhanging rocks or banks. When a flock is flushed the birds imme- 

 diately scatter so that a "pot-shot" is seldom possible. 



Greater Scaup Ducks are said to feed almost exclusively at night. 

 Crustaceans, shellfish and the like form the principal part of their 

 food, but pondweeds are not altogether neglected. In the east these 

 ducks, like many of the other species which dive, feed to a large extent 

 on wild celery the roots of which can be torn loose only by the more 

 expert divers among the ducks. Three stomachs of Greater Scaup 

 Ducks shot by Sam Hubbard on San Pablo Bay, December 5, 3913, 

 contained many shells, mostly broken, of a small clam {Mya arenaria). 

 A stomach obtained by W. Toms on Tia Juana Slough, below San 

 Diego, December 7, 1913, contained over 450 seeds of ditch-grass 

 {Ruppia mariiima). 



The Scaups are among the less desirable ducks for table use, as 

 their flesh is usually tainted by their sliell-fish diet. On the market 

 both the Greater and Lesser Scaup Ducks are known as "Blue-bills" 

 and are sometimes classified with certain other inferior species, as 

 "small ducks," and sold wholesale for $1.00 to $2.00 a dozen. The 

 Lesser, being abundant on the bays and marshes near San Francisco, 

 can always be found on the market, and the Greater has been at times 

 recognized among them. The rare appearance of the Greater Scaup 

 on the market, as compared with the Lesser, is probably due to the 

 fact that it affects more open and inaccessible waters. But it ranks 

 equally with the Lesser Scaup from the sportsman's point of view. 



The Greater Scaup Duck is, with us, preeminently a maritime 

 species. It is a bird which evidently winters chiefly north of us. 

 Hence its preservation is not a particularly urgent problem to Cali- 

 fornians. It will probably never be an important game bird in this 

 state for two reasons : first, it appears in but small numbers, irregu- 

 larly and in inaccessible places ; and second, it is not in great demand 

 as a table duck, but is used merely as a makeshift when other more 

 desirable species are not procurable. 



Lesser Scaup Duck 



Marila affinis (Eyton) 



Other names — Bluebill; Little Black-head; Black-jack, part; Broad-bill; 

 Aythya affinis; Fulix affinis; FuUgula affinis; Fuligula mariloides. 



Description — Adult male: Whole of head, neck, breast and fore part of 

 back black (some specimens show a dull brownish ring around the lower neck, 

 but not of the chestnut color seen in the Ring-necked Duck); sides of head 



