286 NYROCA AFFINIS 



Behavior in Captivity. Although I think this Scaup gets along rather better 

 in confinement than its larger cousin, the Common Scaup, it is seldom kept in a 

 pinioned state. The few I have had, have lived only a year or two, showed little 

 activity, and a reluctance to go into eclipse plumage. So far as I know nobody has 

 ever bred them in this country and they do not as a rule go beyond the initial stages 

 of courtship. They require, of course, a varied animal diet, and in some places they 

 might be kept in a healthy state for several years. They have only recently been 

 imported alive to European collections. In December, 1923, Mr. Hugh Wormald 

 received four hand-reared birds of the year. He was rather surprised to find that 

 these birds nested at the age of one year (or rather at ten or eleven months), the first 

 egg being laid on May 26, 1924. I saw the young from a set of eggs which hatched 

 on July 2, having been incubated between twenty-five and twenty-six days. 



Out of five adults received at the National Zoological Park in Washington in late 

 May, 1917, three died in 1922 and the two others were in good health in September 

 of that year. This is, I think, a fairly good record for wild-caught birds. 



Hybrids. Wild hybrids with the Canvas-back and with the Red-head have been 

 recorded (Poll, 1911). Hybrids with the Greater Scaup would be difficult, if not 

 impossible to distinguish unless in full male plumage. There is little evidence that 

 they ever occur. 



