106 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



SCAUP DUCK (Marila mania) 



The Scaup Duck is an abundant transient and common 

 winter visitant on Long; Island, but is now rare or uncommon 

 at the extreme western end in the section of the seaside re- 

 sorts. Else where in our territory the lack of shooting makes 

 it practically impossible to differentiate between this species 

 and the Lesser Scaup. The females are absolutely indistin- 

 guishable in life. The drakes differ in the gloss of the head, 

 greenish in the Scaup, purplish in the Lesser Scaup, but it 

 requires the most extraordinary combination of proximity and 

 bright light to see this character, and such a chance comes 

 only a few times in a decade. As a rule the Lesser Scaup is 

 the more frequent species on smaller bodies of water and 

 creeks, and many observers consequently imagine that it is 

 the Greater Scaup which they see off the ocean beaches and 

 in the bays of Long Island, but unfortunately the facts do 

 not bear out this comfortable theory. In other words the 

 two species cannot be identified on the basis of the size of the 

 body of water in which they are seen . Some skins in museums 

 are unidentifiable. Comparison of size with other species of 

 ducks is also utterly untrustworthy. 



Long Island. Abundant transient, common in winter. 

 September 1 to May 30. This or the next species occasional in 

 summer. 



ORIENT. Abundant winter resident ; occasional in summer. 

 September 12, 1907 to May 19, 1916. Average, October 10 

 to April 25. 



MASTIC. Abundant transient. 



LONG BEACH. Up to ten years ago Scaups were common 

 winter residents; they are now relatively uncommon. On three 

 occasions birds believed to be Lesser Scaups have been iden- 

 tified as such with reasonable surety. The extreme dates 

 are September 20, 1909 (Griscom) to May 30, 1911 (Griscom 

 and LaDow), and June 8, 1915 (Bicknell), but in no case is 

 the species known. 



New York State. Both species are reported as common on the 

 Hudson at Ossining (Fisher and Brandreth). Scaups are now rare 

 elsewhere on the river in our area, and data regarding the two 



