78 NATUEAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



season to the salt marshes between the head of Noitou Bay and the mouth of the Kuskoquim 

 Eiver occupies but a very small territory, and a glance at the ma]) will show this coast line not 

 to exceed 400 miles, even following its indentations. The width of the breeding ground will not 

 exceed I or 2 miles, and there are long stretches where it does not breed at all. 



In addition to the natural struggle for existence, the species has to contend against thous- 

 ands of shotguns in the hands of the natives. The diminution in all the species of water- 

 fowl breeding along the coast is more and more marked each season, and while this may mean a 

 desertion of one region for another in the case of the great majority of geese and ducks, yet for 

 such narrowly-limited species as the Spectacled Eider, and to a less extent the Emperor Goose, 

 this diminution is but the beginning of extermination ; moreover the present scarcity of large 

 game along the coast is having great eftVct in causing the natives to wage a continually increasing 

 warfare upon the feathered game. 



SOMATERiA v-NiGRA Gray. Pacilic Eider (Esk. 2Iit-lhdk). 



Along the coast of the North Pacitic, both shores of the Aleutian Islands, and all the islands 

 of Bering Sea, and the coast of the adjoining Arctic Ocean to the northern limit of the main- 

 land, is the broad area over which the breeding range of this bird extends. The shores and islands 

 of Bering Sea form their great breeding resort, although they are common outside these limits 

 i^ many places. Including the Aleutian Islands and thence south they are residents wherever 

 found, but probably most numerous in winter. 



In the Aleutian Islands Dall found them to be resident and to winter abundantly, although in 

 summer they were much more abundant toward the western end of the chain. Although Elliott 

 did net note them in his list of the Seal Island birds, yet they undoubtedly occur there during 

 summer, as it is in their direct line of flight to the north from the Aleutians. 



The species is very abundant at Point Barrow in summer, and breeds in great numbers along 

 the coast east of that place. According to Murdoch, Bean found it breeding at Cook's Inlet, and 

 it is a common resident on the Near Islands. On the Commander Islands Stejneger found it breed- 

 ing. Murdoch tells us that the whalers call these birds " canvas-backs." The last of May, 1877, 

 I found them rather numerous about Sanak Island and the adjacent reefs. They were frequently 

 seen sunning themselves on projecting rocks or islets near shore, but were rather shy and took to 

 the water or flew off at the first alarm. They were seen in Unalaska Harbor a few days later, and 

 the same season, from June IC to IS, as we lay off the Tukon mouth and approached Saint Michaels, 

 especially about 10 or 15 miles offshore from the latter place, we passed through flocks number- 

 ing hundreds of the males of this species. 



The sea was rather rough as we drew near the shore, and the heavy-bodied eiders were in 

 most instances unable to raise themselves from the water, and the approaching vessel caused 

 them to flap along the water until, as if animated by a single purpose, dozens of them would dive, 

 only to reappear a few moments later and struggle off again. 



The Eskimo there sometimes find them ofl'shore among the ice-floes the last of April or first 

 day or two of May, but this is not common. In ordinary seasons they are first seen near shore 

 at Saint Michaels and the Yukon mouth from May 10 to the 20th, according to the state of the ice. 

 During the last ten days of May the ponds and tide creeks on the marshes open and the eiders 

 proceed to chose their summer homes. 



The first eggs are rarely deposited before the first of June, and I have found fresh ones until 

 the first of July. Their courtship must be conducted befoi-e the birds reach the breeding ground, 

 as I have never seen any demonstrations such as are usual among mating birds. The small flocks 

 seen at first give place at once to solitary pairs, which resort to the salt marshes. The nesting 

 site is usually a dry spot close to a small pond or a tide creek and not often in close proximity to 

 the seashore. The moss-grown slope of some small knoll, a grassy tussock, or a depression made 

 on an open flat, but hidden by the thin growth of surrounding vegetation, are all chosen as nest 

 sites. 



The first evening after my arrival at Saint Michaels I walked back on the flat about 200 yards 

 from the fort and put up a female from five fresh eggs. The nest was thickly lined with down 

 and concealed by dwarf willows and other low Arctic vegetation. This was the only instance 



