Todd : Birds of Erie and Presque Isle. 521 



Mill Creek. The most reasonable explanation of these facts would 

 seem to be that such late staying birds are those which for some reason 

 have not the ability or inclination to breed, some of them at least being 

 ' ' pensioners, ' ' but just why these should be the only ducks known to 

 regularly spend the summer here without breeding it is difficult to say, 

 unless it be that their abundance brings them into more prominence. 

 In the fall of 1900 the first migrants were noted on October 14, and 

 by the end of that month they had become quite common, although 

 the great flights did not take place until the cold stormy weather in 

 November came. They were still the most common ducks at the close 

 of our stay, and doubtless remain as long as there is open water, or 

 well into December. Mr. Bacon contributes the following interesting 

 account of the migration of this species : ' ' On one occasion I saw, as I 

 believed, all the Lesser Scaups in this neighborhood start for the south. 

 The bay had frozen over a few nights before, and on this particular 

 afternoon a large flock of these ducks kept circling over the lake, some- 

 times high in the air, again dropping swiftly to the surface and skim- 

 ming along for a mile or so. Finally, having evidently gathered into 

 one flock all the birds of the vicinity, they rose to a great height, and, 

 starting southward, were soon lost to view. ' ' A peculiar habit of some 

 of the ducks under certain circumstances is illustrated by the following 

 note, also from Mr. Bacon : "I once wounded a duck of this species 

 in shallow water, and, wading out to where I saw it last, I found it 

 holding to a strong weed by its bill, two or three feet below the surface, 

 stone-dead. ' ' 

 33. Fuligula collaris. Ring-necked Duck. 



This duck is a transient visitant in spring and fall, probably of reg- 

 ular occurrence, but not common. By the gunners it is not distin- 

 guished from the Lesser Scaup, with which it is sometimes found 

 associated, while its seasonal status, save that there are no late spring 

 or summer records, would appear to be about the same. The notes on 

 this species are scanty. The earliest spring record is for March 15, 

 1903, on which date Mr. Bacon secured a pair shot by a gunner. On 

 April 12, 1900, he shot a male from a flock of five, which were found 

 feeding in a small pool in the fields on the mainland. Mr. Simpson 

 reports a female shot April 14, 1902, and in Mr. Sennett's collection 

 there is a female taken April 21, 1875. These are all the available 

 spring records, and those for the fall are also few in number. A pair 

 in Mr. Sennett's collection, taken October 10, 1889, constitute the 



