284 NYROCA AFFINIS 



most places. They become much more numerous farther south, abounding in suit- 

 able waters on the Long Island, New Jersey, and Delaware shores, but most of these 

 birds pass on. They are really abundant during winter in upper Chesapeake waters 

 and even more so in the brackish sounds of North Carolina. Here one can see them 

 in their thousands and they used to comprise a large proportion of the bags of market 

 shooters, especially when Canvas-back, Red-head and Ruddies were scarce. In 

 South Carolina (Winyah Bay) it is said not to be nearly as plentiful as it used to be. 



One of the greatest haunts of this duck is eastern Florida, both in the interior 

 lakes and along the coastal sounds and rivers. F. Harper (U.S. Biological Survey 

 MS.) estimated a few years ago that there were 200,000 to 300,000 wintering on the 

 so-called Indian River; 40,000 to 50,000 on Lake Okeechobee; and 20,000 to 25,000 

 on the lakes in the eastern half of the State north of Okeechobee. This estimate is 

 probably very conservative, but as mentioned above, this Scaup has certainly been 

 greatly reduced in Florida as a whole. Whether this is merely a case of over-shooting 

 plus the disturbing influence of motor-boats I do not know, but this seems likely 

 enough. Forbush (1912) thought that the destruction took place between 1878 and 

 1900. The record books of the Canaveral Club at Cape Canaveral do not suggest 

 any recent increase of Little Blue-bills, although other ducks have increased there 

 since Federal protection began. 



The brackish or enclosed waters of the Gulf Coast are also the home of innumer- 

 able Little Blue-bills. The report of the Louisiana Game Commissioner showed that 

 38,560 Blue-bills (probably at least 95 per cent of this species) were marketed during 

 the winter of 1913-14, representing 13 per cent of all ducks. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that there was a good deal of confusion with the Ring-necked Ducks which 

 were said to number 13,632 on the same list. The Lesser Scaup is also a very com- 

 mon duck in California, and the diminution there has not been especially marked 

 (Grinnell, Bryant and Storer, 1918). Nevertheless these writers admit that the older 

 hunters say that the numbers are not nearly so great now as formerly. They are not 

 recorded satisfactorily in the reports of the various Game Transfer Companies for 

 that State so that it is hard to assign a place to them in comparison with other ducks. 



The enormous numbers which nest in certain localities have been mentioned in 

 other places. Mr. A. Wolfe writes me that near Edmonton, Alberta, where he col- 

 lects eggs for hatching purposes, it would be easy to pick up a bushel basketful in a 

 few hours. In the Athabasca delta it was easily the commonest breeding duck, rank- 

 ing well ahead of the Mallard, Golden-eye and Pintail. In Wisconsin, at Delavan, 

 from 1892 to 1899, Hollister (1920) found that the Lesser Scaup was the commonest 

 migrant duck, more so in spring than autumn, and represented 15.6 per cent of all 

 ducks shot, as against 1.71 per cent for the Greater»Scaup. 



Enemies. No doubt the Common Crow is by far the worst factor in the de- 



