60 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



rootstocks of ditch grass (Ruppia maritima), the proportion 

 of animal food averaging about the same as the vegetable. 



LESSER SCAUP DUCK; BLUEBILL: Fulix af finis 



(Eyton). 



State records. — The lesser scaup is probably the commonest 

 and most widely distributed of its tribe as a winter resident 

 of the Southern States. It is found abundantly in Alabama 

 on all the rivers, lakes, and ponds in the interior as well as 

 on the bays along the coast. In the interior it is commonly 

 known as "bullhead;" in Perdido Bay it is called "blackhead;" 

 and in Mississippi Sound, "gray-back" or "dos-gris." 



At Leighton, and doubtless also throughout the Tennessee 

 Valley, it is an abundant spring migrant, occurring from the 

 middle of February to the middle of April in large flocks in 

 many of the ponds which at this season cover the low spots 

 in the fields. Small flocks are seen in the rivers very late 

 in spring. At Florence, May 1, 1912, I saw a flock of about 

 20 and at Decatur, May 12, a bunch of 8. The species occurs 

 also irregularly but often in some numbers on the Alabama 

 River, near Montgomery, where on December 11, 1915, I saw 

 4 individuals. At Orange Beach, late in January, 1912, this 

 was the only species of duck to be found in numbers. Small 

 companies were seen in the bay, but the large flocks, number- 

 ing sometimes several hundred, were living in the brackish 

 lakes between Orange Beach and Little Lagoon. When I 

 again visited these lakes in December, 1915, however, I found 

 no ducks at all. In Mississippi Sound and in the ponds on 

 Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands in February, 1912, lesser 

 scaups were moderately common, but by the 22d of March 

 their numbers were much reduced. In Mississippi Sound in 

 November, and in Mobile Bay in December, 1915. I found the 

 species common in company with the ringneck and small num- 

 bers of the greater scaup duck. Smaller numbers were 

 seen, also, at Nigger Lake early in December. 



Migrants begin to arrive in fall about the first week in 

 October (October 7, 1890, Greensboro), and in spring the 

 birds linger sometimes well into May (May 15, 1891, Leigh- 

 ton ; May 14, 1912, Guntersville) . 



