66 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Baltic in winter. The drake has the head and neck white, 

 the chin black, and a glossy purple-shot black collar joins its 

 black back ; the wings are black and white, the lower breast 

 and flanks rich chestnut, and the abdomen dark. It is much 

 smaller than the other two eiders, but has the same art green 

 on the head — in front of the eye and on the nape. The duck is 

 dark brown mottled with buff, and has a brown-black speculum 

 narrowly bordered with white. The bill is bluish grey, the 

 legs dark grey, and the irides brown. Length, 17 ins. Wing, 

 85 ins. Tarsus, 1*4 ins. 



Eider-Duck. Somateria mollis sifna (Linn.). 



The Eider (Plate 26) nests abundantly in Iceland, Scandi- 

 navia, and the western Paliearctic region generally, and in 

 winter wanders south along the Atlantic seaboard, occasionally 

 to the Mediterranean. The eastern American sub-species is 

 closely allied to ours, but the western, Pacific form, S. in. 

 v-nigra Gray, has a distinct black chevron on the chin ; the 

 presence of indications of a similar mark on some examples 

 was responsible for the erroneous idea that this bird occurred 

 in British waters. On the Scottish coasts, in the Shetlands and 

 Orkneys, and some of the Hebrides, the Eider is a resident, 

 and on the north-east coast of England some numbers nest 

 annually, most plentifully on Holy Island and the Fames. 

 Except for one nest recorded for Ireland, it is elsewhere a 

 winter visitor, more frequent in the east than the west. 



The Eider is a large, heavy duck, with a bill sloping from 

 the forehead. Down the centre of the bill, about half-way to the 

 nostrils, is a feathered peak, but even more noticeable than 

 this is the angular tract of feathered skin that runs forward on 

 each side of the bill, dividing the upper mandible, as far as the 

 nostrils, into two portions. The handsome drake, white above, 

 except on the crown and lower back, which, Hke most of the 



