The White-Winged Scoter, a New State Record for Kansas
The White-winged Scoter, a New State Record for Kansas
On November 21, 1927, William Sanderson, a sportsman of Lawrence, Kansas, while hunting ducks on the Kansas River killed a female White-winged Scoter (Melanitta deglandi). Mr. Sanderson, realizing that the bird was unusual, brought it to the Museum of Birds and Mammals, University of Kansas, for identification. Upon learning that the specimen was a new record he donated it to the museum where it now is preserved as a skin, number 17125.
Approximately one year later, in November, 1928, Mr. C. J. Saunders, also of Lawrence, killed four White-winged Scoters while hunting on the river. These birds were discarded as being of no food value and they lay in the open for a month or so before being turned over to the museum. They were then in an advanced stage of decomposition, so were prepared as skeletons and were not identified as to sex. The exact date upon which they were taken was not known. These specimens bear University of Kansas Museum numbers 17769, 17773, 17775, and 17779.
The approximate locations, only, were given for the five birds as being a few miles up the Kansas River from Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas. Acknowledgment is here made to Mr. C. D. Bunker, in charge of the University of Kansas Museum of Birds and Mammals, for permission to report this record.
Lawrence V. Compton
Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, September 24 1931
