RING-NECKED DUCK. 171 



is less plainly marked. The black of the male changes to 

 brown in the female. The fore part of head, all about 

 the base of the bill, is nearly white. The lower parts 

 of the body are white, sometimes marked with brown or 

 brownish-gray, growing darker toward the tail. The 

 length is 16 to 18 inches. 



The female of the ring-necked duck is very similar to 

 that of the redhead, but the former is darker, except 

 about the bill, where the pale markings are much paler, 

 often almost wJiite. The difference in the bills is char- 

 acteristic, that of the female ring-neck being much the 

 shorter and broader. 



The ring-necked duck is by no means so abundant as 

 many of our other species and is quite commonly con- 

 fused with the little black-head, which it closely re- 

 sembles in habits. In fact, as a rule, gunners do not 

 distinguish between the tufted duck and the little black- 

 head, and when counting up their score at the end of the 

 day always refer to this species as a black-head. Its 

 common names indicate this confusion. It is called ring- 

 necked scaup, ring-necked black-head, marsh blue-bill, 

 bastard broad-bill, ring-billed black-head, ring-billed 

 shuffler, and sometimes it is called creek redhead be- 

 cause of its resemblance to that species. I have also 

 heard boatmen, who had happened to notice the red col- 

 lar about the bird's neck, call it a hybrid between a 

 black-head and a redhead. 



The ring-necked duck is found sparingly throughout 

 almost the whole of North America. Its chief breeding 

 grounds are north of the United States, but it probably 



