DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS: LESSER SCAUP 137 
the American and Lesser Scaups can be distinguished mainly by size, and this varies 
so much that they are often confused, but in the American the inner primaries are 
white or nearly white. 
Range. —Breeds in northern interior of North America; from Yukon Valley, 
Alaska, and northern limit of trees in Canada (Mackenzie and Anderson River 
regions), west shore of Hudson Bay, and southeastern Ontario south to Ohio, 
northeastern Colorado (not commonly), interior British Columbia, and southern 
Alaskan coast; winters from southern British Columbia, southeastern Arizona, 
northeastern Colorado, Arkansas, Illinois, and eastward to Long Island Sound south 
to Bahamas, Lesser Antilles, Panama, Pacific coast of Central America and Ecuador 
(non-breeding birds summer far south of breeding range). 
State Records. —The Lesser Scaup Ducks occur in New Mexico as migrants 
and rare winter residents; and a scaup, presumably the Lesser, has been recorded as 
wintering on the lower Rio Grande (Henry). [On the Rio Grande Bird Reserve 
they were noted November 23-December 9, 1916 (Willett). On the Rio Grande 
near Albuquerque they are not common, generally seen singly (Leopold, 1919.)! 
On the Carlsbad Bird Reserve they were common January, 1915; [150 were noted 
December, 1916 (Willett)]. Several were seen about 60 miles west of Magdalena, 
April 26, 1915 (Ligon). [On Lake Burford, 10-12 pairs that did not seem to be 
nesting and a few unmated males in full plumage were seen May-June, 1918. 
Near by, on Hayden Lake, on June 1, 25 males and 23 females passed over (Wet- 
more).! A few were seen at Beaver Lake August 26, 1908 (Birdseye); and several 
on Horse and Burford Lakes, in late September, 1904 (Bailey). Flocks were seen 
near Koehler Junction, Colfax County, August 19 and 20, September 4, and October 
7 and 19, 1913 (Kalmbach).—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —Usually in a marsh, or a depression in dry grassy ground near water, 
when it is made of grass and weeds, generally lined with dark down. Eggs: 6 to 11, 
dark olive-buff. 
Food. —Wild celery, wild rice, pondweeds, shellfish, crustaceans, and aquatic 
insects. 
General Habits. —Scaups of both species may be recognized at a 
distance by their black fronts and whitish sides, and, as they ride the 
waves or rise to flap the wings, by the white of the belly. In full adult 
plumage, with the sun shining on them, the blue of their bills is seen 
and the sides gleam almost like the white blanket of the Canvasback. 
In the hand the Lesser Scaup is seen to have the sides more noticeably 
vermiculatcd than the larger Scaup, and to have the black foreparts 
glossed with purple instead of green. 
The name Scaup comes from the habit of these sea-going ducks of 
feeding on the beds of scalps or scallops. Besides their descriptive 
names of Bluebill and Blackhead they have also been named “Raft 
Ducks,” from their habit of resting on the water in great compact flocks. 
At such times they seem the most phlegmatic of ducks, but during court¬ 
ship they assume a new role. On a North Dakota lake, as I have noted, 
“two of the handsome black-fronted drakes and one of the brown ducks, 
were seen swimming around close together the twenty-first of June in 
what seemed to be courtship rivalry, late though it was. After swim¬ 
ming along peacefully together for a few moments, one of the drakes 
