190 NY ROC A COLLARIS 



as twelve have been found. The eggs are greenish or grayish white to buff, some- 

 times described as olive gray, measuring from 57.2-58.3 mm. in length by 40.6-41.8 

 in width. They are said to resemble very closely those of the Lesser Scaup; in fact, 

 to be quite indistinguishable from the eggs of that bird. 



The incubation period is unknown and there are no notes about the behavior of 

 males during and after it. The female seems to be very artful in the manner in which 

 she eludes pursuit, even while she is sitting. She is also very well able to look after 

 her young and Francis Harper was much struck by her cleverness in the waters 

 of the Athabasca delta. He thought these were the best of all duck-mothers, and 

 describes very minutely the call which sent the young scurrying to cover and the 

 same call, repeated in a lower, steadier voice, which was apparently used to gather 

 them together again. 



Status. There are several reasons why we know little about the actual numbers 

 of this duck, whether on the breeding grounds, in its passage area or in its winter 

 quarters. The female, her nest, and also the eggs are hard to identify, unless the 

 bird itself is shot. On the autumn migration, especially outside areas where it is 

 common, most of those which are shot are birds of the year, and consequently easily 

 confused with Scaups and Red-heads. It is safe to say that only a small proportion 

 fall into the hands of ornithologists. Then again the records of clubs and of markets 

 are of scarcely any use for similar reasons. For some unknown reason it seems, since 

 the year 1921, to have become a much commoner fowl on the Atlantic coast than it 

 used to be. It remains to be seen whether this is merely a temporary fluctuation. 



Starting with the Lake Erie region I do not know anything very definite. Mr. 

 Ferris, the late caretaker of the Long Point Club, told me in 1915, that although no 

 records had been kept he thought that usually only four or five were taken annually. 

 The previous year, however, he remembered that about forty or fifty were brought 

 in. It is more than likely that the species is much commoner there than these 

 figures would indicate and that for a short time in mid-October and early November 

 it may be really common in some years in the Lake region. There must be some at 

 Port Perry, Ontario, and I have mentioned under Migration specimens banded 

 there by Mr. Osier. In central and western New York (Eaton, 1901) and Ontario it 

 is considered common at times and Mr. Julian B. Clark tells me he has shot a good 

 many at Mississquoi Bay, north end of Lake Champlain. In western Pennsylvania 

 it is regular but not common on migration (Todd, 1904). In the State of Maine, 

 O. W. Knight (1908) mentions three or four records and Brewster (1924) only met 

 with it five times at Lake Umbagog. Brewster (1906) could only give three for the 

 Cambridge region, Massachusetts, and C. W. Townsend (1905) only one for Essex 

 County, Massachusetts. Since then few new records have come to notice (G. M. Allen, 

 1913) until the year 1921 when it became almost common and I have taken 24 at 



