14 PEOCEEDINGS OF THE Js^ATIONAL MUSEUM vol.80 



Nelson " does not definitely list tliis duck from St, Lawrence 

 Island, but states that it is found on " the shores and islands of 

 Bering Sea." Herse}^ saw a few to the east of St. Lawrence Island, 

 and Bailey saw three birds on the island on June 28. 



Collins obtained a female at Gambell on June 27, and an unsexed 

 bird, probably also a female, on October 2. The June specimen is 

 in molt. 



According to Bent, this duck probably breeds on St. Lawrence 

 Island. 



POLYSTICTA STELLERI (Pallas) 



Stelleb's Eider 



Anas stelleri Pallas, Spicilegia zoologica, etc., vol. 1, fuse. 6, p. 35, pi. v, 1769 



(east Kamchatka). 

 Polysticta stelleri. Nelson, Birds of Bering Sea, etc.. Cruise of the Corivin, p. 



99, 1S83.— Brooks, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool.. vol. 59, p. 395, 1915.— Hersev, 



Smithsouian Misc. Coll., vol. 66, no. 2, p. 19, 1916.— Brnt, V. S. Nat. Mus. 



Bull. 130, p. 73, 1925.— A. O. U. check-list of North American birds, ed. 4, 



p. 55, 1931. 

 Eniconetta stelleri, Nelson, Report upon natural history collections made ia 



Alaska, p. 75, 1887. 



Nelson found Steller's eider evidentlv breeding in small numbers 

 around the fir.^t of July in the brackish ponds on St. Lawrence 

 Island. 



Brooks found a number of large flocks on the south side of the 

 island on June 25. These flocks consisted mostly of males. Plersey 

 found them common on the island also. 



Bailey 1* definitely states that Hendee saw none of these birds dur- 

 ing his week's stay on the island. 



Collins collected an adult male in breeding plumage on June 8 at 

 Gambell. The black of the back, rump, and upper tail coverts has 

 relatively little of the violaceous sheen as compared with other speci- 

 mens from Alaska. The blackish chin and throat patch are broadly 

 connected posteriorly with the dark collar. The width of the con- 

 nection appears to be very variable; in some specimens it is reduced 

 to a very fine line, in others (as in the present case) it is as much as 

 12 millimeters wide. 



SOMATERIA V-NIGRA Gray 



Pacific Eider 



Bomateria V-nigra Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1855, p. 212, jil. 107, Feb., 1856 



(Kotzebue Sound [Alaska]). 

 Somateria v-nigra, Brooks, Bull. Mus. Comp. Tiool., vol. 59, p. 396, 1915. — 



Bailey, Condor, vol. 27, p. 200, 1925. 



1^ Birds of Bering S<a and tlie Arctic Ocean. Cruise of the Convin in Alaska and the. 

 NW. Arctic Ocean in 1.S81, p. 98, 1883. 

 n Condor, vol. 27, p. 197, 1925. 



