158 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. THE KING, OR 

 BLACK-BACKED EIDER. 



KING DUCK. 



Anas spectabilis. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 195. 



Anas spectabilis. Lath. Ind. Ornith. II. 845. 



King Duck. Mont. Ornith. Diet, and Supplt. 



Canard a tete grise. Anas spectabilis. Temm. Man. d'Omith. II. 



King Eider. Somateria spectabilis. Selby, Illustr. II. 343. 



Somateria spectabilis, King Duck. Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anim. 238. 



Somateria spectabilis. Bonap. Comp. List, 57. 



Male with the frontal angles of the hill very broad, rounded, 

 fleshy, and much elevated, so as to form a large compressed 

 protuberance ; the upper part of the head and nape light grey- 

 ish-blue ; the cheeks pale green ; the throat white, ivith two 

 bands of black meeting anteriorly at a very acute angle ; the 

 hind-neck and part of the back ivhite ; the fore-neck richly 

 cream-coloured ; the back, scapidars, and inner secondary 

 quills, black, as are the breast, sides, abdomen, and rump ; a 

 spot on each side of the latter, and the middle smaller tving- 

 coverts, ivhite ; tail of fourteen feathers. Female with the 

 frontal angles less elevated and shorter ; the head and neck 

 pale reddish-brown, finely streaked with dusky ; the lower 

 parts similarly coloured, but ivith the markings transverse, and 

 the ground colour passing gradually into dusky broicn ; the 

 upper parts dark brown, transversely lunulated with light red. 

 Young nearly similar to the female. 



Male in Summer. — The " King Duck " is so very similar 

 in foiin and style of colouring, that ornithological system- 

 makers have been deterred from referring it to a genus dis- 

 tinct from that of the " Eider Duck," although the protube- 

 rance caused by the modification of the frontal angles of the 

 bill would probably have induced them so to act, had the 



