34 
THE RING-NECKED DUCK. 
greenish-black, with purple reflections. A brownish-red collar, broader 
before, on the middle of the neck. Its lower part all round, as well as the 
back, scapulars, smaller wing-coverts, and posterior part of abdomen, brown- 
ish-black. Inner secondaries of the same colour, outer bluish-grey on the 
outer web, light brown on the inner, as are the primaries, of which the outer 
webs and tips are dark brown. Tail brownish-grey. Chin white, breast 
greyish- white, sides and fore part of abdomen greyish-white, minutely undu- 
lated with greyish-brown. 
Length to end of tail 18 inches, to end of wings 16 ; extent of wings 28 ; 
wing from flexure 73; tail 2i; bill along the back 2 T \, along the edge of 
lower mandible 1H; tarsus 1 T V ; middle toe 2f^ its clawyV . 
Adult Female. 
The female has the neck umber-brown, the upper part of the head darker, 
the back blackish-brown, the speculum bluish-grey, as in the male, the 
breast brownish-white, the loral spaces and chin pale brown, the abdomen 
umber-brown. 
Length 16 inches. 
The Tufted Duck of Europe, Fuligula cristaia, is very intimately allied 
to this species. The bill of the latter is longer, narrower, and differently 
coloured, the unguis broader at the end, as is the flat triangular space at the 
base of the upper mandible. The bill of the Scaup Duck is still broader 
towards the end, with a much narrower unguis, and the flattened part of the 
upper mandible still narrower than in the Tufted Duck ; the colour of the 
speculum is also different, being bluish-grey in the Ring-necked Duck, and 
white in the two allied species. The females of the Ring-necked and Scaup 
Ducks, which are nearly similar in colour, differ in the speculum, and in the 
peculiar form of the bill. 
