BIRDS OF KANSAS. §5 



measure: 2.26x1.52, 2.25x1.52, 2.20x1.50, 2.17x1.52, 2.25x 

 1.51, 2.21x1.50. 



Aythya collaris (Doxov.). 



RING-NECKED DUCK. 

 PLATE VI. 



Migratory; common. Arrive very early; my notes show 

 their capture from February to May 21:th: usually leave in April; 

 return late in the fall. 



B. 590. R. 616. C. 7-22. G. 294, 38. U. 150. 

 Habitat, North America in general; breeding from latitude 

 42° north to 62°; south in winter to Guatemala and the West 

 Indies. 



Sp. Char. ^'Adult male: Head, neck, jugulum, crissum, and upper parts 

 generally, black, the head and neck with a faint violet gloss, the wing coverts 

 inclining to slate; secondaries (speculnm) bluish gray, darker snbterniinally, 

 and very narrowly tipped with white; primaries slate gray, the outer quills and 

 ends of others dusky. A triangular spot of white on the chin, and a more or 

 less distinct collar of chestnut around the lower neck; breast and abdomen 

 white, abruptly defined anteriorly against the back of the jugulum, but chang- 

 ing insensibly into the black on the crissum, tlirough a graduated barring or 

 transverse mottling of white and dusky; sides white, delicately undulated with 

 grayish dusky; axillars and lining of the wing immaculate white; bill lead color, 

 with a narrow basal and broad subtermiual band of bluish white, the end biack; 

 iris bright yellow; legs and feet pale slaty. Adult female: Crown and nape dull 

 dark brown, becoming gradually lighter below; rest of the head paler and 

 grayer, the anterior half of the lores, the chin, throat and foreneck nearly or 

 quite white; jugulum, sides and flanks deep fulvous or raw umber brown; breast 

 and abdomen white; anal region brown; long featliers of the crissum whitish; 

 wings as in the male; remaining upper parts dull dark brown, the feathers of 

 the back narrowly tipped with fulvous. Bands on the bill narrower and less 

 distinct than in the male; iris yellow; feet slaty. Doiony young: Above, gi'ay- 

 ish umber brown, relieved by seven spots of light buff, as follows: A small and 

 inconspicuous spot in the middle of the back between, and a little anterior to, 

 the wings; a large patch on each side of the back; another on each side the 

 rump, at the base of the tail, and a bar across the posterior border of each wing. 

 Crown, occiput and nape crossed longitudinally by a wide stripe of deep grayish 

 umber; a rounded isolated spot of liglit grayish brown directly over the ears; 

 remainder of the head, including the forehead, and lower parts generally, light 

 dingy buff, tlie flanks crossed by a brown transverse stripe from the rump to 

 the tibia. Side of the head without any longitudinal stripes. 



"The chief variation in the plumage of this species consists in the distinct^ 

 ness of the chestnut collar in the male. In some examples this is scarcely more 

 conspicuous than in A. affinis, being dull brown instead of reddish; but usually 

 the color is a well-defined chestnut, jiarticularly in front." 



