KING-EIDER. 69 



tion and leaves her to take charge of the young, whilst others 

 have noted him anxiously keeping guard. Probably there is 

 individual difference in the behaviour ; I have, however, seen 

 many ducks, unaided by any drake, convoying their little fleet 

 of four or five young, and in mid-June forty-eight mature drakes 

 together. 



The forehead, crown, a stripe on either side of the bill, 

 lower back, and under parts of the drake Eider are black ; a 

 white stripe divides the crown, and the neck, face, upper parts 

 generally, and a patch on either side of the abdomen are white. 

 The breast is a beautiful rose-buff, but the most delicate colour 

 is the pale green on the nape and cheeks and the yellow of the 

 elongated inner secondaries. The bill is olive-green, at any 

 rate shortly after death ; there is difference of opinion as to the 

 actual shade during life. The tip is pale yellow. The legs are 

 olive, the irides dark brown. In the brown duck the bill is 

 bluish grey, the feet and eyes as in the drake. The drake 

 in eclipse has irregular marking on the back and scapulars, 

 and is much blacker than in his winter dress. Young drakes 

 vary so much that only a specialist could tell the age of most 

 individuals, for the bird is not mature until its third year ; there 

 would be a suspicion of guesswork in any case, for it is most 

 unlikely that the various feminine characters are lost and the 

 spots and mottles on the whitening portions gained at the same 

 age in every bird. Length, 25 ins. Wing, 12 ins. Tarsus, 

 175 ms. 



King-Eider. Somateria spectabilis (Linn.). 



The Arctic and circumpolar King- Eider (Plate 26) travels 

 south in winter and consorts with the commoner bird ; in 

 British seas it is uncommon, merely an occasional visitor. 

 Some numbers have, however, been observed in the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, and a few on the east coast and in Ireland. 



