American Eider 61 



The female is sooty-brown above, paler and mottled with white 

 below and has a white patch on the ear-coverts and sides of the face 

 at the base of the bill ; wing 7-5. The young male at first resembles 

 the female and gradually acquires the male characteristic, taking from 

 two to three years to do so. 



Distribution. — Breeding from Newfoundland north to Greenland 

 and Iceland, and to Alaska and Siberia, also in Rocky Mountains 

 south to Colorado and central California ; in winter south of its breeding 

 range to Long Island, the Great Lakes and on the Pacific coast from 

 Monterey to Japan. 



The Harlequin is a rare resident in Colorado, apparently breeding 

 in the mountains from 7,000 to about 10,000 feet, and wintering at 

 lower elevations, but very few observations have been made and we 

 know very little about its movements or its habits.. 



Drew first reported it from San Juan co. where he believed it nested 

 at high elevations ; Morrison followed Drew, but gave no definite 

 evidence about its breeding ; he stated, however, that it was common 

 on the river in winter below Fort Lewis, with Barrow's Golden-ej^e, 

 The only other notice of this duck in Colorado is that of Carter, who 

 found it breeding on the Blue River, below Breckenridge, at an altitude 

 of 9,200 feet. 



Genus SOMATERIA. 



Ducks of large size, with the bill varying in shape but swollen at the 

 base ; feathers of the head running forwards on to the bill, and forming 

 various frontal and lateral prolongations as far as the nostrils ; plumage 

 chiefly black and white with green about the head. 



Four species of Arctic or Subarctic range are found in North America 

 but only one hitherto is known to wander to Colorado. 



American Eider. Somateria dressen» 



A.O.U. Checklist no 160 — Colorado Records — Cooke 97, pp. 156, 

 224 ; 06, p. 57. 



Description. — IVIale — Top of the head, rump, tail-coverts and under- 

 parts from the breast black ; occiput washed with sea-green ; rest of 

 the plmnage, including the ciu-ly inner secondaries and most of the 

 wing-coverts white ; bare frontal spaces on either side at the base of 

 the bill, long, broad, club-shaped and divergent ; bill yellowish. 

 Length 2-40; wing 11-0; tail 4-0; cuhnen 2-0; tarsus 1-75. 



The female is everywhere varied chiefly in bars with black, chestnut 

 and yellowish-brown, becoming greyish with dusky mottling below. 



Distribution. — Breeding from the coast of Maine north to Hudson 

 Bay ; wintering from Newfoundland to New Jersey and occasionally 



