DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 
149. Aythya aflflnis ( Eyt.). Lesser Scaup Duck. 
Like A. marila , but smaller, with black of head glossed with purple 
instead of green, and sides more heavily lined with gray. Length : 15.00- 
16.50, wing 7.50-8.25, bill 1.58-1.90, width of bill .80-95. 
Distribution. — North America, south in winter to Guatemala, breed¬ 
ing mainly north of the United States. 
Nest. — Similar to that of marila. Eggs : 7 to 9, pale olive gray. 
The lesser scaup, or little blue-bill, is abundant during migrations 
over most of the United States, wintering from Okanagon and Lake 
Chelan south to Guatemala, and in spring following north close to 
the edge of the retreating ice, to breed mainly north of the United 
States. 
Like all of the genus, the lesser scaups are great divers and keep 
much in the open lakes, often in large flocks, where they dive for 
food, or sleep and rest on the water in comparative safety. They 
cannot resist the temptation of the rice lakes, however, and swarm 
into them by thousands to fatten on the delicious grain, which they 
glean from the mud bottoms after it has been threshed out by the 
wind and the wings of myriads of coots and rails. While they eat, 
the hunters lie hidden in the tall rice and on the ridges which they 
must pass in going from lake to lake, and in spite of their bullet-like 
flight the sadly thinned flocks show the penalty they have paid for 
leaving the open water. Vernon Bailey. 
breeding plumage: similar to female 
but darker brown. Adult female: head, 
neck, chest, and sides brownish; re¬ 
gion around base of bill, and belly, 
whitish. Length: 18-20, wing about 
8.50, bill 2.03. 
Distribution. — Most of the northern 
hemisphere; in North America breed¬ 
ing mainly north of the United States; 
south in winter to Guatemala and the 
West Indies. 
Nest. — Usually in a marsh, or a de¬ 
pression in grassy ground near water, 
lined with down. Eggs: 9 to 12, pale 
olive gray. 
The scaup duck, or blue-bill, is not 
so generally common in the United 
Fig. 74. Scaup Duck. States as the lesser scaup, which 
has essentially the same habits and is sometimes mistaken for it. 
Flocks of both are found associated in the rice lakes, where the 
report of a gun will sometimes start thousands into the air with the 
roar of an avalanche. The two species are generally indistinguish¬ 
able on the wing, and together often form the bulk of the ducks 
seen during the early spring or late fall migration. 
Vernon Bailey. 
