The Lesser Scaup Duck 



Taken on Stow Lake, San Francisco 



LESSER SCAUPS 



TWO FEMALES, LEFT; TWO MALES, RIGHT 



the mark of the breed, and their instincts are even more commonplace 

 than their appearance. Any one who has seen them gather in excited mobs 

 to contest with the gulls the flotsam of outfall sewers, as at Santa Barbara 

 or Hyperion, will scarcely inquire why they are absent from the bill of 

 fare at the 

 game din- 

 ner. The 

 Lesser 

 Scaup is 

 welcome, for 

 all of us, 

 to muck 

 around in all 

 the brackish 

 ponds and 

 backyard 

 puddles of 

 our coast. 

 Even ani- 

 mated scav- 

 engers are more pleasant to the eye than bobbing tin cans or stranded 

 shoes. But as a candidate for table honors, nevaire. 



The Lesser Scaups are very much more abundant in the South than 

 their larger kinsmen. They are more largely represented on bodies of 

 fresh water, and, by the same token, a little less given to off-shore duty. 

 They are more venturesome, or more confiding, and they explore all 

 available shallows, while their cousins are likely to be diving in deep 

 waters. At resting time, however, they have the same habit of crowding 

 thickly together upon open water, "rafting," and at such a time they may 

 be thousands strong. If there is a bit of a breeze going, or if they are in 

 dangerous territory, so that there is any likelihood of drifting ashore, the 

 sleeping birds will keep up a leisurely motion with one foot, describing 

 thereby little restful circles upon the water, all with the head tucked under 

 wing, and thoughts in dreamland. 



No bird is quicker to avail itself of protection than the Bluebill. 

 Wherever the laws forbid shooting from the wharves or upon the water- 

 ways, there Scaups make themselves at home; and in those places where 

 they are not even frightened, as by idle stone-throwers, they become 

 almost as tame as domestic ducks. It goes without saying, then, that 

 Scaups are the most unsuspicious beneficiaries of such protected areas 

 as Eastlake and Westlake Parks in Los Angeles, or Lake Merritt in Oak- 

 land. Thousands of these birds take refuge on the last-named body of 



1811 



Photo by the Author 



