226 BULLETIN 126, UNITED STATES NATIONAI. MUSEUM. 



out to photograph a bittern's nest already found, and was struggling along more than 

 up to my knees in mud and water, when a smallish duck flushed almost at my feet 

 from some thick, dead rushes, disclosing 12 buffy eggs, nearly fresh. The clear view 

 within a yard of the pearly gray speculum and the total absence of white on the 

 wing told the story. She alighted near by in open water, and gave me and my com- 

 panion such fine opportunity to study her with the glass and note every detail of 

 her plumage, both as she sat and as she flew back and forth before us, that it was not 

 necessary to sacrifice her for identification. Nothing was seen of the male. 



Maj. Allan Brooks (1903) records a nest which he found in the 

 Cariboo District of British Columbia on June 27, as follows: 



The nest was in a tussock of grass, in eight inches of water; it was composed of 

 coarse green grass and arched over with the drooping blades of the tussock. The 

 nine eggs contained small embryos. 



From this and the foregoing records it would seem that the ring- 

 necked duck habitually builds its nest in wet situations and not on 

 dry ground, as is usually the case with the lesser scaup duck. The 

 down in the ring-necked duck's nest is smaller and a little lighter in 

 color than that of the lesser scaup duck; it is "warm sepia" or 

 "bister," with lighter centers; the breast feathers in it are }>ure 

 white or pale grayish, tipped with white. 



Eggs. — The set seems to consist of from 8 to 12 eggs, whicii are 

 practically indistinguishable from those of the lesser scaup; the shape, 

 texture of shell, and color are all the same; further description would 

 be useless repetition. The measurements of 75 eggs, in various col- 

 lections, average 57.5 by 39.8 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 60.5 by 41.9, 58 by 42.2, 53.5 by 38.5 and 54.9 

 by 38 millimeters. 



Young. — I have no data on the period of incubation. The female 

 alone performs this duty, as the males desert the females during this 

 period and do not assist in the care of the young. I have never 

 seen a brood of young ringnecks and can not find anything in print 

 about their behavior or their development. 



Plumages. — I have never seen a small dovvny young of this species, 

 which was] positively identified, but Maj. Allan Brooks (1903) says: 



The young in down are very light colored, resembling the young of the canvas- 

 back and redhead, and quite different from the dusky. unsp>otted youn*: of the 

 lesser scaup. 



His excellent plate shows this to advantage. A larger downy 

 young bird, measuring 8 inches long in the skin, collected by Major 

 Brooks and now in the United States National Museum, I should 

 describe as follows: The whole head, except the posterior half of the 

 crown, is yellowish, shading frojn "chamois" or "cream buff " on the 

 cheeks and auriculars to "colonial buff" on the throat; the posterior 

 half of the crown and the occiput are "bister," nearly separated by 

 points of yellow from a broad band of "bister" which extends down 



