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BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
would suddenly start after the other and dog his steps, swimming at his 
heels around and around as if trying to drive him off. The duck, mean¬ 
while, holding her brown head high, apparently kept as far as possible 
from one of the rivals, though it was hard to tell which, the three swam 
within such a small circle. This droll performance was repeated a week 
later, but this time when two drakes and one duck were swimming 
around together a third drake happened along and seeing the group 
swam in rapidly as if to present his suit to the haughty lady. In any 
case, one suitor, presumably he, swam close to her ear. As before she 
held her disdainful head high and soon there were but two suitors, and 
at last but one” (1916, p. 55). 
The spectacular courtship performances of over a hundred Lesser 
Scaups was witnessed by Dr. Charles W. Townsend on February 22, 
1926, at Sanibel Island, on the west coast of Florida. The birds were 
crowded together, rapidly and nervously milling about and diving. 
“The males often jumped clear of the water, made graceful curves and 
entered it with wings close to the sides, but the astonishing part was 
that, as they disappeared, spurts and sometimes sheets of water were 
sent up by their feet” (1927, pp. 549-550). 
Additional Literature.—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. Bull. 126, 217-224, 
1923.— Wetmore, Alexander, Auk, XXXVII, 244-245, 1920. 
RING-NECKED DUCK: Nyroca collaris (Donovan) 
Description. — Length: 15.5-18 inches, wing 8, bill 1.7-2, tarsus 1.3-1.4. 
Adult male in breeding plumage: Foreparts , upperparts , and under tail coverts mainly 
black , with while triangular chin patch and inconspicuous chesl7iut collar; black of 
head glossed with green and purple; speculum gray ; axillars and most of wing linings 
pure white; belly white, sides gray, vermiculated, separated from breast by white , 
upward pointing patch; iris yellow, bill dark gray with white bands at base and border 
ing tip; legs and feet dark. Adult male in post-nuptial eclipse: Color areas less 
sharply contrasted, black dulled, neck ring reduced and dulled, and white of belly 
partially obscured (after Hollister). Adult female in winter and breeding plumage: 
Face white around bill (absent in June): Upperparts dull brown, sides of head 
grayish brown, with whitish streak back of eye, speculum gray; chest and sides 
warm brown, belly white; iris brown, eye-ring white; bill blackish with indistinct 
light crossbar near tip. Young in juvenal plumage: Above dark brown with 
lighter feather edgings; below mottled with light brown and whitish; chin broadly 
white (Bent). 
Remarks. —The Ring-neck is essentially a fresh-water duck of the interior. 
Comparisons. —The male Ring-neck, called also Ring-necked Scaup, Ring 
necked Black-head, and by hunters, Ring-bill, may be known in life by his 4 ‘squarish ’ 1 
head, the white rings on his broad bluish bill, his chestnut collar, white triangular 
chin spot, black back, bluish gray speculum, and the inverted white U or V at the 
bend of the wing, conspicuous when at rest on the water. The female has a gray, 
instead of a white, speculum as the Scaups have. Except for the white face band 
bordering the bill, which varies greatly in both female and immature plumages in 
both species, some having almost none (Forbush), she closely resembles the female 
