98 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



Friedmann (1935) has recorded specimens taken and many bones 

 found in middens. He also found many bones in middens of 

 Dutch Harbor and Little Kiska. In the wintering season, Gabriel- 

 son found this eider at various points from Kodiak to Unalaska, 

 and Hine (1919) obtained specimens near the mouth of Katmai 

 River on June 25, 1919. Though we have relatively few published 

 reports of king eiders from the winter range, these ducks must 

 occur along the Aleutians and Alaska Peninsula and the ad- 

 jacent seas in large numbers, judging by the striking northward 

 migration we observed at Hooper Bay in the spring of 1924. 



The Attu chief appeared to recognize this duck; he gave us a 

 name for it and stated that a few of them nest at Attu Island 

 and that a few winter there. 



Judging by the relatively large number of bones found by 

 Herbert Friedmann in the middens at Dutch Harbor and Kodiak, 

 and considering the statement of the Attu chief that only "a 

 few" winter there, the king eider evidently assembles in the 

 greatest numbers among the eastern Aleutians and along the 

 Alaska Peninsula. In 1925, I was told by local residents that 

 many of these ducks winter at Isanotski Strait and at Wide Bay. 

 Beals and Longworth (field report) observed king eiders at 

 Isanotski Strait, Ikatan Peninsula, and at neighboring areas at 

 intervals from early January to the latter part of May 1941; 

 their numbers began to diminish in May, and at the end of May 

 practically none were left. Four specimens were collected on 

 January 13 and 24 and March 6. 



In winter, Cahn found the king eider to be more common than 

 the common eider at Unalaska Island, and he says, 



present from early December to early March, usually in small flocks of 

 three to six, or solitarily. Dec. 2, 1945, is the earliest record; April 3, 1944, 

 the latest. The gizzard of a female found dead contained two specimens of 

 the snail Callistoma. 



Though we do not have nesting records for the Aleutians — the 

 Attu chief's statement about their nesting on that island may 

 properly be questioned — a number of king eiders spend the sum- 

 mer near Alaska Peninsula. In 1925, I observed a flock of about 

 200 birds (females and immature males) that spent the summer 

 at Glen Island in Izembek Bay. 



Lampronetta f'ischeri: Spectacled Eider 



Information on this eider is disappointingly meager for the 

 area under discussion. We saw none during the course of our 

 expeditions to the Alaska Peninsula and the Aleutians. They are 



