124 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



LESSER SCAUP (Marila affinis) . 



Common or local names: Little Bluebill; River Broad-bill ; Creek Broad-bill; Raft 

 Duck; and other names that are also applied to the Greater Scaup. 



Female. 



Male. 



Length. — 15 to 17 inches. 



Adult. — ■ Similar to Greater Scaup but smaller, head and neck of male 

 showing purplish instead of greenish reflections; full-plumaged males 

 have the fine black wavy lines on the flanks much more numerous and 

 more distinct than those of Greater Scaup. 



Field Marks. — The full-plumaged male may be distinguished from Greater 

 Scaup at close range with a glass by the purplish gloss of the head. 

 The female is indistinguishable from that of Greater Scaup except by 

 measurement. 



Notes. — Some shrill, others low and guttural; heard mostly at night. 



Season. — Rather uncommon, or rare migrant, in New England; most 

 common in fall; early October to May; rare winter resident in Massa- 

 chusetts. 



Range. — North America. Breeds from the Yukon valley, Alaska, and 

 Fort Anderson, Mackenzie, south to central British Columbia, south- 

 ern Montana, Colorado (casually), northern Iowa, northern Indiana 

 and western Lake Erie; winters from southern British Columbia, 

 Nevada, Colorado, Lake Erie and New Jersey south to the Bahamas, 

 Lesser Antilles and Panama; rare in migration in Newfoundland, New 

 Brunswick and Nova Scotia; accidental in Greenland and Bermuda. 



