WILD FOWL 
RING-NECKED DUCK 
NYROCA COLLARIS 
Fuligula collaris, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 370 (1895). 
"^1^ DULT male. — Head, neck, upperparts and upper breast 
black, the head and neck glossed with purple, a white 
/ ^ spot on the chin, and a dark chestnut collar round the 
M lower neck ; lower breast and upper part of the belly 
i white, gradually shading into black on the vent and 
under tail -coverts by fine graduated vermiculations of 
white and dusky ; sides and flanks white finely vermiculated with black ; 
upper wing-coverts dark sooty-brown tinged with greyish, long inner 
secondary quills glossed with dull bluish-green; rest of the secondaries 
with the outer web grey, blackish towards the tip, the median quills 
being edged with white; short inner primary quills very similar, but of 
a more smoky-grey; long outer primaries blackish, smoky on the inner 
web; axillaries white, slightly freckled towards the tips of the plumes 
with blackish; tail dark sooty -brown. Iris bright yellow; bill lead-colour, 
with a narrow basal and a broad subterminal band of bluish -white, tip 
black; legs and feet pale slate-colour. Total length about 17 inches; 
bill 1 '9 inch; wing 7 8 inches; tail 2*3 inches; tarsus 1 4 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage . — ^Probably resembles the female very closely, 
the wings in the two sexes being much alike. No specimen has been 
examined. 
Adult General colour of the head, neck, upperparts and chest 
brown, much darker sooty-brown on the back and wings; the front 
of the face behind the bill, as well as the chin and upper throat, white; 
fore -neck and chest mottled with whitish; breast and belly pale greyish - 
brown tipped with pure white, giving these parts a mottled appearance 
and shading into darker smoky-brown on the vent; sides and flanks 
warm dun-colour or reddish-brown; wings very similar to those of the 
adult male; axillaries pure white. Iris yellow; bands on the bill narrower 
and less distinct than in the male; feet slate-colour. Total length about 
17 inch; bill 1*8 inch; wing 7 2 inches; tail 21 inches; tarsus 13 
inch. 
General distribution . — ^The ring -necked duck inhabits North America, 
and breeds from the southern parts of British Columbia to Lake Winnipeg 
373 
