224 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Casual records. — Accidental in Bermuda (December 19, 1846, 

 January 8, 1849, and February 25, 1876). Rare in migration to 

 Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Accidental in Greenland (Egedes- 

 minde) . 



Egg dates. — Alaska and Arctic America: Eighteen records, June 17 

 to July 18; nine records, June 22 to July 5. Manitoba, Saskatchewan 

 and Alberta: Thirteen records. May 20 to July 14; seven records, 

 June 10 to July 3. Minnesota and North Dakota; Eighteen records, 

 May 1 to July 10; nine records, June 12 to 25. 



PERISSONETTA COLLARIS (Donovan). 



RING-NECKED DTTCE. 



HABITS. 



Although usually classed with the scaup ducks and resembling 

 them in general appearance, this species seems to be more closely 

 related to the European tufted duck than to any American species. 

 Wilson figured and described it under the name, " tufted duck," sup- 

 posing it to be identical with that species. Its gray speculum sepa- 

 rates it from the scaups and its black head and conspicuous crest make 

 it seem very distinct from the redhead, though female ringnecks and 

 redheads look very much alike. I am interested to note that, since 

 I wrote the above, Mr. Ned HoUister (1919) has very ably advanced 

 a similar theory. Its distribution is similar to that of the lesser 

 scaup. It is essentially a fresh-water duck of the interior. It pre- 

 fers the marshes and sloughs to the open lakes and streams and is 

 less gregarious than the scaups. 



Spring. — It is not an especially early migrant in the spring but 

 usually appears soon after the breaking up of the ice, coming along 

 with the scaup ducks and frequenting much the same resorts, but 

 flocking by itself in small scattered groups around the marshy 

 edges of the ponds and in the sloughs. 



Courtship. — Audubon (1840) refers briefly to the courtship of this 



species as follows: 



They have an almost constant practice of raising the head in a curved manner, par- 

 tially erecting the occipital feathers, and emitting a note resembling the sound pro- 

 duced by a person blow-ing through a tube. At the approach of spring the males are 

 observed repeating this action every now and then while near the females, none of 

 which seem to pay the least attention to their civilities. 



Nesting. — The fu-st account we have of the breeding habits of the 

 ring-necked duck was funished by Dr. T. S. Roberts (1880) ; he found 

 a nest on May 27, 1876, near Minneapolis, Minnesota, and on June 1 

 he shot the female and collected the eggs. He described the nest, 

 as follows : 



The situation chosen for the nest was in a narrow strip of marsh bordering a large 

 shallow pond or slough. About halfway between the shore aud the edge of the open 



