RING-NECKED DUCK 239 



LIFE STORY 



The Ring-necked Duck is very closely allied to the Tufted Duck 

 (Nyroca fulvigula) of Europe and Asia and is so much like that species 

 that the famed ornithologist, Alexander Wilson (1832) described it as 

 the same. He said: "This is an inhabitant of both continents. . . . Being 

 birds of passage, they leave us entirely during the summer." Speaking 

 of the Ring-neck, Audubon (1840) says: "My friend the Prince of 

 Musignano first pointed out the difference between it and the Tufted 

 Duck .... in 1824." The Tufted Ducks, both male and female, have 

 definite tufts or elongated crests, and lack the clear white rings on the 

 bill which mark the American species, and the females are much darker 

 brown on the upper parts. 



The Ring-neck might much more happily have been called by its 

 popular name of Ring-bill, as the band around the neck from which it 

 received its official vernacular name is obscure, being strongly evident 

 only in males of high plumage. The white rings around the bill, on the 

 contrary, are not only very noticeable in hand but are conspicuous field 

 marks, characteristic of both sexes. 



Ring-necks are essentially fresh-water ducks of the interior and are 

 uncommon along both the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific coasts. 

 They seem to prefer the marshes and sloughs to the open lakes and 

 streams and are less common in the broad open waters than others of 

 the Diving Ducks. They are nervous, alert birds, like the Scaups in this 

 respect, but even more lively. They are good divers, seeking their food, 

 at times, in 40 feet of water. They swim lightly and rapidly and rise 

 from the water with greater ease than do most Diving Ducks, making an 

 unmistakable whistle of the wings as they do so. 



Of the courtship of this species, Audubon (1840) says briefly: 

 "They have an almost constant practice of raising the head in a curved 

 manner, particularly erecting the occipital feathers, and emitting a note 

 resembling the sound produced by a person blowing 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 seems to pay the 

 least attention to their civilities." 



These ducks usually nest in wet, boggy places bordering the edges 

 of marshes, ponds and sloughs of the interior; the nests are often barely 

 above the level of the water, where it would seem that the eggs must fre- 

 quently be threatened by wet or dampness. The nests are constructed 

 of the material of the vicinity, grasses, reeds, bulrushes or other debris. 

 The usual clutch is from 8 to 12 eggs, which are dark olive buff or deep 

 olive buff in colour and are identical with those of the Lesser Scaup. The 

 average size is 2.26 by 1.57 inches. As is usual among the ducks, both in- 

 cubation and the raising of the young devolve upon the female. 



About four-fifths of the food of the Ring-neck is from the vegetable 

 kingdom. An analysis of the stomach contents of 742 of these birds, 

 taken in 20 States and 5 Canadian Provinces, shows the average diet to 

 be in the following approximate percentages: water lilies, 15; pond- 



