EGGS OF BEITISH BIRDS. 55 



range, nesting probably as far as land extends. It appears to 

 breed on all the coasts of Greenland, Spitsbergen, Franz-Josef 

 Land, and Novaya Zemlya, and the islands off the north coast 

 of Siberia. On the American continent it breeds throughout 

 the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, occasionally straying in winter 

 to Labrador, New Jersey, the Great Lakes, and California. 



In its mode of nesting the King-Eider closely resembles the 

 Common Eider. Middendorff says that he found a nest contain- 

 ing fresh eggs on the 7th of July ; and early in August he saw 

 many females swimming down the river with their young broods. 

 Colonel Feilden found these Ducks common at Floeberg Beach in 

 lat. 82|°; they arrived in flocks at the end of June, most of which 

 were killed by the hunters, but the survivors began to nest in 

 suitable localities on the coast, and fresh eggs were obtained from 

 the ninth to the middle of July. Mr. MacFarlane found the King- 

 Eider breeding on the Arctic coast near Franklin Bay, and he 

 describes the nest as a mere depression in the ground fifty yards 

 from the beach, lined only with down. 



The eggs of the King-Eider are usually six in number, and 

 vary much less in colour than those of the Common Eider, being 

 pale greenish-grey. They vary in length from 2'6 to 2'45 inches, 

 and in breadth from 1*85 to 1'7 inch. They can very easily be 

 confused with those of the Red-breasted Merganser, but may be 

 detected by their greener colour. The down of the King-Eider 

 very closely resembles that of the Common Eider. 



THE GOOSANDER. 



(Mergus merganser.)* 



Plate 15, Fig. 6. 



The Goosander is a tolerably common winter visitor to the 

 British Islands. A few pairs remain to breed in the Highlands, 

 and Mr. Harvie-Brown has had the eggs and down sent to him 

 from North Perthshire, obtained from a hollow tree ; and other 

 evidence, not quite so conclusive, is to be found in Booth's 

 "Rough Notes" and elsewhere. 



The Goosander is a resident in Iceland, but is an accidental 

 straggler to the Faroes. It breeds throughout Scandinavia, 



* Merganser merganser — Sharpe, Handb., III., p. 58. 



