THE BIRD BOOK 



157. Steller's Duck. Polysticta stelleri. 



Range. — Arctic regions in America, chiefly on 

 the Aleutian Islands and northwest coast of 

 Alaska. 



A very beautiful species eighteen inches long; 

 head white, washed with greenish on the fore- 

 head and nape; chin, throat, neck, back, tail and 

 crissum, black; underparts chestnut; wing cov- 

 erts white, the long scapulars black and white. 

 It breeds on the rocky coasts and islands of 

 Bering Sea. The six to nine eggs are pale olive 

 green in color. Size 2.25 x 1.60. Data. — Admir- 

 alty Bay, Alaska, June 22, 1898. Nest on a hum- 

 mock of the tundra, near a small pool, lined with 

 grass and down. Collector, E. A. Mcllhenny. 



158. Spectacled Eider. Arctoneita fischeri. 



Range.— Coast of Alaska from the Aleutians 

 to Point Barrow. 



Steller's Duck 



Spectacled Eider 



Pale olive green 



Like the rest of the true Eiders, this species is black beneath and mostly 

 white above. The head is largely washed with sea green, leaving a large patch 

 of white, narrowly bordered by black around each eye, thus resembling a pair 

 of spectacles. The nests are made of grass and seaweed and lined with down; 

 they are placed on the ground in clumps of grass or beneath overhanging 

 stones. The five to nine eggs are an olive drab or greenish color. Size 2.70 

 X 1.85. Data. — Point Barrow, Alaska, June 15, 1898. Six eggs. Nest of moss 

 and down in a hollow in dry tundra. Collector, E. A. Mcllhenny. 



159. Northern Eider. Somateria moUissima borealis. 



Range. — North Atlantic coast, breeding from Labrador to Greenland and 

 wintering south to New England. 



A large Duck similar to the next species, but with the base of the bill 

 differing, as noted in the description of the following species, and with a more 

 northerly distribution. The nesting habits are the same as those of the other 

 Eiders. Six to ten eggs generally of a greenish drab color. Size 3. x 2. 



102 



