KING, OR BLACK-BACKED EIDER. 161 



Female. — Tlic female of this species is so very similar to 

 that of the common Eider that it is difficult to distinguish 

 them. It is considerably smaller than the male, and has the 

 plumage less blended, the scapulars and inner curved second- 

 aries shorter. The bill, wliich is shorter, with its tumid 

 basal angles narrow, not expanded as in the male, is of a 

 pale greenish-grey tint, with the unguis of the upper man- 

 dible bluish-gi'ey tinged with yellow. The feet are dull 

 greenish-grey. The head and neck are light greyish-yellow, 

 with small streaks of brownish-black ; the throat paler ; the 

 lower neck all round, with the fore part of the breast and 

 the sides, yellowish-grey variegated with dusky, each feather 

 having a brownish-black central patch and a sub-marginal 

 band of the same. The lower parts generally are of a uni- 

 form pale yellowish-brown ; the feathers of the sides and the 

 lower tail-coverts spotted and barred with broAvnish-black. 

 The feathers of the back and the scapulars are brownish- 

 black, with yellowish-grey margins. The quills and tail- 

 feathers are deep greyish-brown ; the recurved inner second- 

 aries dusky, with their outer margins yellowish-grey. 



Length to end of tail 21 inches; bill 1^^; tarsus l-j^; 

 third toe 2^^, its claw -f'-^. 



Habits. — The " King Duck " is described as resembling 

 the " Eider Duck " in its habits, and as equally numerous in 

 the arctic regions, Avhence, however, it does not extend so far 

 southward, a very few individuals only having been obtained 

 in Britain. Montagu, in the supplement to his Ornithological 

 Dictionary, says : — " We are assured by Mr. Bullock that he 

 found this bird breeding in Papa Westra, one of the Orkney 

 Islands, in the latter end of June. It lays six yellowish- 

 white eggs, rather less than those of the Eider Duck, and, 

 like that bird, covers the eggs with its own down. The nest 

 was on a rock impending the sea." Mr. Jenyns states that 

 it has been killed on the coast of Suffolk ; and iNIr. Thompson 

 mentions one killed in Ireland. Mr. Dunn, who visited 

 Papa Westra, and the most northern of the Orkney Islands, 

 where it Avas reported to breed, searched there for it in vain. 

 Messrs. Baikie and Heddle say it has not been known to 



VOL. V. M 



