164 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



that he figures and describes the affini* rather than the larger 

 Black-head. He speaks of observing the Scaup Duck by the 

 thousand on the Ohio, the Missouri, and the Mississippi, from 

 Pittsburg to New Orleans, where it occurred in such bands that 

 it was generally known as the 'Flocking Fowl.' These ducks 

 were seldom seen close together, and rarely associated with 

 birds of other species. They seemed fond of large eddies below 

 projecting points of land, frequently diving to a considerable 

 distance in search of food. In such situations they might easily 

 be approached and shot; and when danger was near they 

 seemed to prefer to escape by swimming and diving rather than 

 by flight, and they rose with some difficulty from the Avater. 

 Audubon noted that these ducks differed greatly in size, but 

 does not seem to have been led from this to suspect that they 

 really belonged to two distinct species.'' 



Aythya collaris (Donov.) 



RING-NECKED DUCK. 



Popular synonyms. King-billed Black-head; Ring-bill; King-billed Shuffler; Ring-necked 

 Scaup Duck, or Blue-bill; Bastard Broad-bill (Long Island); Fall Duck (Minnesota); 

 Black Jack (Illinois); Moon-bill (South Carolina); Pato boludo prieto (Mexico). 



Anas collaris DONOVAN, Br. Birds, vi, 1809, pi. 147 (England). 



Fuligula collaris BONAP. List B. Eur. 1842, 73. COUES. Key, 1872, 289; Check List, 1873, 



No. 502; 2d ed. 1882. No. 722; B. N. W. 1874, 574. HKNSH. Zool. Wheeler's Exp. 1875, 47;>. 



Fttlix collaris BAIBD. B. N. Am. 1858. 792; N. Am. Cat, B. 1859, No. 590. KIDGW. Orn. 40th 



Par. 1877, C25; Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 616. B. B. & K. Water B. N. Am. ii, 1884, 25. 

 Aythya collaris KIDGW. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii, 1885, 356; Man. N. Am. B. 1887, 104. A. 



O. U. Check List, 1886, No. 150. 



Anas fuligula WILS. Am. Orn. viii, 1814, 06, pi. 67, fig. 5 (not of LINN. 1766). 

 Anas (Fuligula) rufitorques BONAP. Jour. Phila. Acad. iii, 1824, 381. 

 Fuligula rnfitorques BONAP. Synop. 1828. 393. Sw. & RICH. F. B.- A. ii, 1831, 454. NUTT. 

 Man. ii, 1834, 439. AUD. Orn. Biog. iii. 3835. 259.pl. 234: Synop, 1839. 287; B. Am. vi, 

 1843, 320, pi. 398. 



HAB. The whole of North America, south to Guatemala and the West Indies ; breeding 

 from Iowa, southern Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Maine northward. Accidental in Europe. 



SP. CHAK. Adult male: Head, neck, chest, crissum. and upper parts generally, black, 

 the head and neck with a faint violet gloss, the wing-coverts inclining to slate; secondaries 

 ("speculum") bluish gray, darker sub-terminally, and very narrowly tipped with white; 

 primaries slate-gray, the outer quills and ends of the others dusky. A triangular spot of 

 white ou the chin, and a more or less distinct collar of chestnut round the lower neck; 

 breast and abdomen white, abruptly denned anteriorly against the black of the chest, but 

 changing insensibly into the black on the crissum, through a graduated barring or trans- 

 verse mottling of white and dusky; sides white, delicately waved with grayish dn: ky. 

 Axillars and lining of the wing immaculate white. Bill lead-color, with a narrow basal and 

 broad sub-terminal band of bluish white, the end black; iris bright yellow; legs and feet 



