THE RING-NECKED DUCK. 607 



No. 297. 



RING-NECKED DUCK. 



A. O. U. No. 150. Aythya collaris (Donov.). 



Description. — Adult male: Head and neck sooty and lustrous black, with 

 slight greenish and strong violet-purple iridescence ; a short dense occipital crest ; 

 extreme chin white; a broad chestnut collar not clearly defined; fore-neck, breast, 

 and upper parts rich, deep, brownish black, glossed with purplish on the breast, 

 with green on the longer scapulars and tertiaries, minutely dotted with white on 

 the scapulars; lower breast and belly white, becoming purplish on crissum and 

 flanks ; a transverse bar of white on side of breast continuous with under parts ; 

 sides minutely vermiculated dusky and white (as many as a hundred bars to the 

 inch) ; wing-coverts grayish brown, becoming dull glossy green on posterior por- 

 tion ; speculum ashy gray tipped with brownish dusky, and bordered interiorly 

 with bluish gray of outer tertials ; axillars and lining of wings white ; bill black, 

 narrowly pale bluish at base, and crossed by band of same color near tip ; feet 

 dull blue with dusky webs ; iris yellow. Adult female : Black of male replaced 

 by brown, — dark umber brown on crown and upper parts, warm yellowish brown 

 on breast and sides, paling on sides of head and neck to white on throat and 

 whitish about base of bill; belly less clearly or extensively white; wing much 

 as in male. Length 16.00-18.00 (406.4-457.2) ; av. of six Columbus males: wing 

 7.54 (191.5); tail 2.26 (57.4); bill 1.88 (47.8); tarsus 1.39 (35.3). Female 

 somewhat smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Between Mallard and Teal size ; short occipital crest ; 

 chestnut collar ; white chin ; transverse white bar on breast and wavy-barred sides 

 of male serve to distinguish this bird from the other "Blackheads," which it super- 

 ficially resembles. Peculiar yellowish brown of sides distinctive for female. 



Nesting. — Not known to breed in Ohio. Nest, on the ground in grassy 

 marshes or lakeside swamps. Eggs, 6-12, indistinguishable in color from those 

 of preceding species. Av. size, 2.25 x 1.60 (57.2 x 40.6). 



General Range. — North America, breeding far north and migrating south 

 to Guatemala and the West Indies. 



Range in Ohio. — Not uncommon, but rather irregular migrant. 



THIS elegant species bears a general resemblance to the Lesser Scaup, 

 but is nowhere so common unless it be in Minnesota, the center of its breeding- 

 range. Unlike the Scaup, it is never seen in large flocks, seldom in com- 

 panies of above a dozen or twenty individuals ; it shuns the open water, so 

 much frequented by the Bluebills. In flight the individuals of a flock scatter 

 widely, and they are likely to become still further separated as they feed in the 

 rushes and deeper growth of the swamp. Here they subsist upon crayfish, 

 snails, frogs, insects, and the various sorts of seeds which drop into the water 

 from overhanging vegetation. 



