94 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



on Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian chain (though undoubtedly in 

 small numbers), and that it wintered there in great numbers. 

 It is also clear that there has been a great diminution in num- 

 bers. On our two expeditions in 1936 and 1937, we were in the 

 general region early enough to have observed these ducks before 

 all of them had left their wintering grounds. We saw very few, 

 and those that we saw were on the north side of Alaska Penin- 

 sula. We saw none in the Aleutian chain. We found the natives 

 of Attu Island — who have had only limited contact with the white 

 man — to be well versed in their local fauna, much more so than 

 natives farther east. These Attu natives did not recognize pic- 

 tures of the Steller's eider and declared that it does not occur 

 there, even in winter. They could be mistaken ; however, if we 

 accept their testimony there must have been a great decline in 

 numbers since 1880, when natives told Turner that these birds 

 nest "sparingly" on Agattu Island. 



A. C. Bent (1925) considers the principal migration route in the 

 fall "southward along the Siberian coast of Bering Sea to their 

 winter homes in the Kurile, Commander and Aleutian islands." It is 

 probable that the migration along the Siberian coast is the greater 

 one, but if the information furnished by the Attu Islanders proves 

 correct (and since we know these birds do winter in the eastern 

 Aleutians), it is unlikely that the Siberian birds go to the Aleu- 

 tians. On the other hand, we now know that there are large 

 nesting populations on the American shores — at Hooper Bay and 

 Nelson Island — and we have observations pointing out that the 

 eastern Aleutians and parts of Alaska Peninsula, even Kodiak 

 Island, are the principal concentration points in winter. In view 

 of these facts, we must conclude that there is also a southward 

 migration down the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea to the eastern 

 Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula, and that the majority of the 

 birds wintering in the Aleutians nest on the Alaskan coast. 



Somateria mollisslma: Common Eider 

 Somateria mollissima v. nigra 

 Attu: Kaf-segh'-ich, male 

 Chd-is, female 

 Ku-ku-toch, young 

 Atka: Ka-sam'-ich, adult (sex?) 

 Ku-ku-toch, young 



Kasimax (Jochelson — dialect not given) 

 Russian (?), Copper Island: Pistrak (Stejneger) 

 Chukchi : Kupuken, male 



Emngi, female (Palmen) 



Common eiders were observed at practically every island of the 



