128 



GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



south to North Dakota, northern Iowa, and southern Wisconsin; win- 

 ters from southern British Columbia, New Mexico, northern Texas, 

 southern Illinois, and New Jersey south to Porto Rico and Guatemala; 

 occurs in migration north to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Quebec; 

 recorded from Bermuda and England. 



History. 

 The Ring-necked Duck apparently is not recorded as very 

 common anywhere and is certainly rare now, if not very rare, 

 in Massachusetts, except in the southeastern counties, where 

 it occurs more commonly in some localities. To the north 

 and east it grows rarer. Dr. Townsend gives but one record 



for Essex County, but Dr. 

 Phillips records three taken 

 at Wenham Lake. Rich says 

 that probably not more than 

 one specimen is killed dur- 

 ing the year in Maine, and 

 Knight regards it as a very 

 rare migrant there, although 

 he says that Boardman once 

 found it breeding in Wash- 

 ington County. It resembles the Lesser Scaup in appearance, 

 size and habits.^ Like that species it is very swift on the wing. 

 As it springs from the water it may be recognized by the dis- 

 tinct whistling sounds made by its wings in its sudden effort 

 to escape danger. The only specimen I ever killed was one of 

 a pair which passed me on a high wind at such speed that the 

 second bird was beyond gunshot before I could cover it and 

 discharge the second barrel. It associates with the Lesser 

 Scaup and feeds on similar food. Minnows, snails, tadpoles, 

 frogs, crayfish, the roots of aquatic plants and many seeds are 

 eaten. 



Fig. 7. — Head of female. 



1 It should be noted, however, that Boardman states in his Catalogue of the Birds found in the 

 vicinity of Calais, Me., and about the islands in the Bay of Fundy, that the Ring-necked Duck 

 does not breed in that region; but Mr. Knight writes me that he visited Mr. Boardman twice and 

 that the statement as it appears in The Birds of Maine was taken from Boardman's last revision of 

 his own field notes. 



