ANAKTUVUK PASS 41 



The fact that similar numbers of specimens of adult greater and 

 lesser scaup were taken does not indicate populations of equal size. 

 Out of about 100 dead scaup which I have examined only about 10 

 were lesser scaups, and since I looked particularly for them, I suspect 

 that the greater scaups are more than 10 times as numerous. 



Lesser scaup were taken about as early as the greater, so that their 

 time of arrival is similar. Flocks of ducks are very difficult to 

 approach, so that most specimens are singles. A male collected on 

 May 31, 1951, at Imaiginik by John Krog was one of nine scaup shot 

 on that day in the same lake, all the others being gi*eater scaup. A 

 female which I shot on June 28, 1951, was alone in the outlet stream 

 from Margaktuk Lake, but in the lake nearby were over 80 males. 

 Two females were collected September 10, 1950, about the latest time 

 when ducks could find extensive open water, but I have also examined 

 greater scaup shot at about that time. I cannot report any difference 

 in the habitat of the two forms, but they are certainly frequently 

 associated. 



The female which was shot on June 28, 1951, had already laid eggs 

 and from its actions might have had a nest nearby. The two downy 

 young birds taken August 7, 1950, in a small lake near Akmalik Creek 

 in the Killik Valley were among six young ducks with an adult female 

 scaup, a pintail, and a white-winged scoter. The scaup attended the 

 young most closely, and the young were not scoters and look like 

 downy scaup ducks. As I watched them, for some time I thought that 

 the attendant bird was a lesser scaup, but I was unable to confirm my 

 view by collection. 



From these observations and their presence throughout the summer 

 I consider that the lesser scaup nest in the mountain valleys, but not 

 having seen them further north I cannot say that they migrate beyond 

 the mountains. 



As I remarked in describing the greater scaup, the Nunamiut have 

 only one name, Kaklutuh, for scaup, and they did not distinguish 

 between them until several years of observations showed that the 

 size characters made two discontinuous groups. While they know 

 that scaup nest very commonly in the mountain valleys, they cannot 

 add evidence for the nesting of the lesser form. 



dangula hyemalis (Linnaeus) 



Imale June 1, 1949 weight (6) 621-868, 



average 778 g. 



1 female, nest, and Jime 30, 1949 weight (6) 510-713, 



7 fresh eggs average 606 g. 



A young female oldsquaw on August 25, 1948, weighed 380 grams. 

 The earliest records are May 21, 1950, May IT, 1951, and May 23, 1953. 



