LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FO\VT^. 227 



the hind neck to the back; narrow dusky postocular streaks are 

 faintly suggested; the dark color of the back changes gradually from 

 "sepia " anteriorly to " bister " posteriorly; the under parts are "ivory 

 yellow" tinged with "cream buff;" there are two large scapular 

 patches, two narrow wing stripes and two small rump patches of 

 "cream buff"; there is also a narrow streak of the same color in the 

 center of the upper back. All of these colors would probably be 

 richer and brighter in a younger bird. 



In the Juvenal plumage, during the early fall the two sexes are 

 very much alike. The upper parts are dull, dark brown, or blackish 

 brown, with lighter edgings; the under parts are mottled with dull, 

 light brown, and whitish; the wings are simihir to those of the adult 

 female, the secondaries in the speculum being dull gray, subtermi- 

 nally dusky and only very narrowly, if at all, tipped with white; the 

 sides of the head and neck are mottled with brown and whitish; the 

 crown is deep brownish black, mottled with brown ; and the chin is 

 broadly white. 



During September and October the sexes differentiate rapidly. 

 New black feathers appear in the head and neck of the young male; 

 new black feathers with a greenish gloss gradually replace the brown 

 feathers of the mantle; and the under parts become whiter, with 

 white vermiculated feathers appearing among the brown feathers of 

 the flanks. By the last of December the young male is in nearly full 

 plumage with the two rings on the bill in evidence with only a few 

 brown feathers left in the back; the brown neck ring is hardly notice- 

 able, the wing is still imtnature and all the colors are duller. Further 

 progress is made toward maturity during the winter and spring, but 

 it is not until after the new wings are acquired, at the complete molt 

 the next summer, that young birds become indistinguishable from 

 adults, when about 14 months old. 



I have never seen the eclipse plumage of the ring-necked duck but 

 it probably has a partial eclipse plumage, or a prolonged double molt 

 in August, very much like what takes place in the tufted duck, to 

 which it is closely related. 



Food.—T>r. F. Henry Yorke (1899) says: 



The feeding grounds are more inshore than those of the bluebills, and they feed 

 more upon seeds such as frog bit, duck and pond weed, being very fond of bulbs of 

 the nonscentod water lily, upon which they will gorge themselves and get exceed- 

 ingly fat: at that time they are counted a delicacy for the table. The playgrounds 

 are in open pieces of water surroxmded by weeds and lily pads, in buck brush, willows, 

 and wild rice. The roosting grounds are in buck brush, the edges of timber, down 

 emartweed, and flags. 



In his food chart for the ring-necked duck he gives the same list 

 of foods as given for the scauj) duck. It is also said to feed on 



