OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 401 



Family ANATID^l. Genus FULIGULA. 



Subfamily FuLlQULlNJK. 



RINQ=NECKED DUCK. 



FULIGULA COLLAEIS (Donovan}. 



Anas collaris, Donovan, Brit. B. vi. pi. cxlvii. (1809). 



Anas fuligula (nee Linn.), Wilson, Am. Orn. viii. p. 66, pi. 67, fig. 5 (1814). 



Fuligula collaris (Donovan), Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. pp. 584, 610 (1885) ; Dixon, 

 Nests and Eggs Non-indig. Brit. B. p. 355 (1894) ; Salvador!, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. 

 xxvii. p. 370 (1895). 



Geographical distribution. British: The King-necked Duck, like 

 the American Bittern, was first made known to science from an example 

 obtained in England. In connection with this matter we are not disposed to rob 

 Donovan of the honour of his discovery by transferring it to Lewis and Clarke, 

 by whom Dr. Coues endeavours to prove the bird had been previously obtained 

 near the mouth of the Columbia Eiver. For just upon a century ornithologists 

 appear to have ignored the claim of this species to a place in the British list, 

 whilst many other birds have been admitted upon much less slender evidence. 

 We are at a loss to account for this, and shall here take the opportunity of 

 reinstating the King-necked Duck to our list of abnormal migrants to the British 

 Islands. It has certainly an equal, if not a better, right to be so included than 

 such species as the Griffon Vulture and the Black-browed Albatross, both of 

 which can only claim a similar single record. This solitary example of the 

 Ring-necked Duck was obtained in Leadenhall Market in London some time in 

 January, 1801. Foreign: Nearctic region; extreme north of the Neotropical 

 region during winter. The Ring-necked Duck breeds sparingly, at least, as far 

 south as Minneapolis in Minnesota, and at Clear Lake in Iowa ; thence north- 

 wards, in larger numbers, across Canada to the Arctic regions of America. Its 

 principal breeding grounds are probably in the high north, although it is some- 

 what remarkable that Macfarlane failed to meet with the nest of this Duck. It 

 passes southwards over the United States to winter, extending, at that season, 

 to Guatemala and the West Indies. It is an abnormal migrant to the Bermudas. 



Allied forms. -None of sufficient propinquity to call for notice. It is 

 probably most nearly allied to the Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata) of the Old 

 World, although very distinct from it. 

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