Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast

by Harry Thom Payne

Color—Male—Head and neck, black, showing a green luster in the sun; back, gray, finely lined with black; under parts, white; speculum, white.

Female—Head, dead brown, with a light gray patch at the base of the bill blending into the brown of the head; breast and back, dirty brown; under parts, white; speculum, white; bill, bluish.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is a crude affair near the water's edge, containing about ten pale olive-buff eggs.

Measurements—Total length, about 18 inches; wing, 8 ¹/₂, and bill, 1 ⁷/₈ inches. The females are but a trifle smaller.

THE LESSER SCAUP, OR LITTLE BLUE-BILL

(Aythya affinis)

The little blue-bill, or lesser scaup, like its larger relative, is a cosmopolitan species, and commonly met with in flocks of the other, which has led to the common error of classing the two together, the one as the elder and the other as the younger birds.

While in general color and markings they are very similar, there is so much difference in their size that they should be easily distinguished. With the males this is very easy for the head of the larger species has a green sheen, the head of the lesser has a purple sheen as shown in the sun. The bill of this species is more of a blue and much smaller, being not over 1 ¹/₂ inches in length.

Color—The color and markings are the same as the American scaup, with the exception that the metallic sheen of the head, as already mentioned, is purple.