The ring-necked duck is named for the chestnut colored ring that it has around the base of its neck. Unfortunately the ring is not a very good field mark for identifying the bird, since it usually is not visible when the duck is swimming or in flight. This duck, like many birds, was named back in the days when most of the people looking at birds were hunters. Hunters looking at a dead bird in hand would easily see the collar around the birds neck and that is probably how this duck got its name. Birders looking at this bird from a distance through scope would have probably named it a ring-billed duck.