JAN., 1909. BIRDS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 343 



of is one specimen, a female, shot on Lake Koshkonong in November, 

 1891." (Kumlien and Hollister, Birds of Wisconsin, 1903, p. 25.) 



Subgenus ERIONETTA Coues. 



62. Somateria spectabilis (LiNN.). 



KING EIDER DUCK. 



Distr.: Arctic regions, south in winter occasionally as far as the 

 Great Lakes and Virginia. It is found on the Pacific side among the 

 Aleutian and Kadiak Islands, accidental as far south as San Francisco. 

 Special characters, adult male: Top and back of the head and 

 nape, pale bluish gray; a black V on the upper throat; feathers 

 bordering the upper mandible and a spot below 

 the eye, black; sides of head below the eye, 

 whitish, more or less tinged with green; throat, 

 white; breast and upper back, pale buff; rest 

 of under parts, black; middle and greater wing 

 coverts, white; rest of wings, tail and lower 

 back, black; upper back, white; axillars, white. 

 Length, 24; wing, 11.25; tarsus, 1.90; bill, 

 1.30. 



Special characters, adult female: Resembles in 



general coloration the Northern and American Eiders but may always 

 be known by the peculiar shape of the upper mandible. 



Length, 21 to 24; wing, 10.50 to 11.30; tarsus, 1.80; bill, 1.25. 

 The King Eider is a rare winter resident on Lake Michigan. 

 " Rare winter visitant, perhaps winter resident to Lake Michigan and 

 other parts of the state. An adult female obtained at Chillicothe on 

 the Illinois River in the winter of 1874 has been sent to the National 

 Museum by W. H. Collins, Esq., of Detroit, Mich. (Ridgway. )" (Nel- 

 son, Birds N. E. 111., 1876, p. 143.) Mr. Wm. E. Praeger records a 

 male specimen of this species shot in the Mississippi River near Keo- 

 kuk, Iowa, in November, 1894. (The Auk, 1895, P- 86.) Kum- 

 lien and Hollister (Birds of Wisconsin, p. 26) mention 6 specimens as 

 having been taken in Wisconsin: Racine i, Milwaukee 4, Lake She- 

 boygan i, and others were observed. 



Genus OIDEMIA Fleming. 



63. Oidemia americana Sw. & RICH. 

 AMERICAN SCOTER DUCK. 



Local name: Butter-bill Coot. 



Distr.: Northern North America, breeding from latitude 52 north- 



