SCAUP DUCK 269 



I have had fine shooting in March by tying out a flock of wooden decoys near 

 the end of a long stone breakwater guarding the mouth of the Hoosatonic River, 

 Connecticut. Scaup would pass back and forth over this sea-wall without showing 

 much fear, but they are very loath to cross necks of land or strips of dunes if they 

 can go around. 



In England they are taken in some numbers by the old method of punt-shooting 

 and they are considered easy birds to "set" up to. Only very seldom indeed do they 

 figure in the takes of the decoys. Harting (1901) gives but one occurrence which he 

 considers very exceptional. Probably small bags of this species are the rule in 

 European waters, as they are in our own. Stevenson and Southwell (1890) speak of 

 one man killing 120 in one day during a hard frost in Norfolk. W. Thompson (1851) 

 records a shot from a punt in Belfast Bay which accounted for 24 but as a general 

 thing big shots are not easy to make in this way for the ducks string out and swim 

 ahead of the approaching boat. 



Scaups have probably always been netted to a certain extent. Montagu (1813) 

 speaks of the practice in England, and Naumann (1896-1905) describes the methods 

 used in Holland and Germany. He says that large-meshed nets are used stretched 

 out horizontally three or four feet below the surface of the water. The ducks get 

 under these while searching for food and in attempting to rise to the surface are 

 caught and drowned. He tells of one place where thousands are caught, especially 

 when the weather is severe and the Scaups have gathered about the mouths of 

 rivers. 



Behavior in Captivity. This species is not an especial favorite on ornamental 

 waters and in many large collections is not to be seen. There are several reasons for 

 this. One is the short duration of life in most enclosed ponds, due without doubt to 

 lack of proper animal food. My own specimens as a rule live only about a year and 

 are in fact about the shortest-lived birds that I have kept. Montagu (1813) spoke 

 of one still alive that had been six years in a menagerie in England and Mr. Astley 

 had one that lived at least eight years but such records are wholly exceptional. Of 

 eight specimens in the London Gardens the average life was one year and eight 

 months, while the longest was six years and one month (P. C. Mitchell, 1911). 

 Another reason why Scaups are of less interest than many other ducks is their 

 usual failure to breed in confinement. So far as I know there is not a single instance 

 of a wild-caught bird even going so far as to build a nest or lay an egg. But I was 

 interested to find that a hand-reared female which Hugh Wormald raised in 1922, 

 from eggs imported from Iceland, bred in 1923 at the early age of ten months. This 

 in spite of a general belief that Scaups do not mate and lay eggs until two years old. 



They become rather sluggish in disposition under fence and seldom exhibit ac- 

 tive courtship. They are easily tamed, a fact noticed by Montagu (1813) and by 



