LESSER SCAUP DUCK. 



I ITTLE Broad Bill, Little Black Head; Little Blue 

 ^ Bill, Shuffler, River Broad Bill, Black Head, Creek 

 Black Head, Broad Bill, Raft Duck, and Flocking Fowl 

 are some of the names by which this species is known in 

 various parts of our country. It is one of the most com- 

 mon of oui; Ducks, and it appears to me to be growing 

 more abundant; at all events, this is so in many locali- 

 ties. Whether this is caused by an actual increase in 

 numbers, or that the birds have merely frequented local- 

 ities usually neglected by them, and so seem to be more 

 numerous, I cannot say. The species has a wide 

 distribution, ranging over the whole of North America, 

 and going south in winter as far as Guatemala and 

 the West Indies. It breeds north of the United 

 States, mainly in the Arctic regions and also, possi- 

 bly, in Minnesota, and perhaps in some other of 

 the border States; but whether it goes west of the 

 mountains in the Territory of Alaska is difficult to deter- 

 mine, as by many writers this bird and the previous 

 species have been so generally regarded as the same, 

 that it is impossible to decide by their narratives which 

 one is intended. Dall and Kennicott say it breeds plen- 

 tifully on the Yukon River, while Nelson, an equally 

 competent observer, states that during a long residence, 

 at the Yukon mouth and to the northward, he did not 

 see a single individual of the Little Scaup, although the 

 Big Scaup was abundant, and Turner does not mention 

 it among the birds seen by him in Alaska. From this 



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