Sea and Bay Ducks 



No dabblers in mud puddles are they: they must have water 

 deep enough for diving and cold enough to be exhilarating. 

 Diving ducks feed by daylight chiefly, or they would never be 

 able to distinguish a crab claw from a celery blade; but they also 

 take advantage of moonlight for extra late suppers. In the 

 Chesapeake region flocks of ducks that have "bedded" for the 

 night rise with the rising moon, and disport themselves above 

 and below the silvery waters with greater abandon even than by 

 day. Owing to the thick feathered armor these ducks wear, the 

 sportsman often counts birds shot that, being only stunned, are 

 able to escape under water. 



It is only when the nesting season has closed that we find 

 the bluebills near the seacoast. They build the usual rude, duck- 

 like cradle — or, rather, the duck builds it, for the drake gives 

 nursery duties no thought whatever — in the sedges near an 

 inland lake or stream, where this ideal mother closely confines 

 herself for four weeks on from six to ten pale olive buff eggs. 

 Nuttall observed that "both male and female make a similar 

 grunting noise " (the quatick or scaup referred to), " and have the 

 same singular toss of the head with an opening of the bill when 

 sporting on the water in spring." 



The Lesser Scaup Duck (Aythyra affinis), Creek Broadbill, 

 Little Bluebill, and so on through diminutives of all the greater 

 scaup's popular names, may scarcely be distinguished from its 

 larger counterpart, except when close enough for its smaller size 

 (sixteen inches), the purplish reflections on its head and neck, and 

 the heavier black and white markings on its flanks to be noted. 

 Apparently there is no great difference in the habits of these fre- 

 quently confused allies, except the preference for fresh water and 

 inland creeks shown by the lesser scaup, which is not common 

 in the salt waters near the sea at the north, and its more south- 

 ern distribution in winter. Chapman says: "It is by far the 

 most abundant duck in Florida waters at that season, where it 

 occurs in enormous flocks in the rivers and bays along the 

 coasts." 



The Ring-necked Duck (Aythyra collaris), or Ring-necked 

 Blackhead, Marsh Bluebill, Ring-billed Blackhead, and Bastard 

 Broadbill. as it is variously called, though of the same size as the 



