8io TFIE PACIFIC EIDER. 



the auricular rei^inu, and tin- u|)])cr l)rirclcr nf tlie (.'hecks deepK- stained witli 

 yellowish green : tliroat with a larije \'-shaped mark of velvet}- hlack. Hill orange- 

 red, paler terminally (light reddish in the dried skin) then nail yellowish wdiite ; 

 iris dark hrown : feet yellow. ./(///// female: Light fulvous, barred with black, 

 the bars widest on the scapulars; head and neck finelv streaked with black, the 

 throat nearly immaculate; alxlomen usually plain gra\ish Ijrown ; greater wing- 

 coverts, primary coverts, remiges, and rectrices ])lain grayish dusky, the greater 

 coverts and secondaries distinctly tipped with white. Voiiiig: Similar to the adult 

 female, but upper parts dusky, the feathers bordered with rustv fulvous, the 

 greater coverts and secondaries not tipped witli white" (\'. Vt. & \<.). Length of 

 adult about 24.00 (609.6) ; wing 1 1. 50-12. 75 ( 2<)2. 1-323.9 ) ; bill along culmen 1.80- 

 2.26 (45.7-57.4), to i)oint of basal angle 2.50-3. to (63.5-78.7); tarsus 2.00-2.30 

 150.8-58.4). Female smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — dull size; black of crown and under])arts and white 

 of remaining plumage (male) unmistakable; mottled brown plumage of female 

 with size distinctive. 



Nesting. — Does not breed in Washington. Xcst: on the ground, of grass, 

 moss, etc.. copiously lined with down. Iu/(/s: ')-io, light iili\e-drab. .\v. size, 

 3.00 ,x 2.00 (76.2x50.8). Season: June; one brood. 



General Range. — Roth coasts of the Xortli Pacific and liering Sea, the 

 western .\rctic coast of .Alaska and eastern .\rctic coast of Siberia: east to Great 

 Slave Lake; chiefly resident, but south irrcgularlv in winter to Washington. 



Range in Washington. — Casual in winter on I'uget Sound, and the West 

 Coast ( ?). 



Authorities. — Bowles, .\uk, \"(>1. X.Xlll. .\pr. \')0(>. \>. 140. 



EIDI^ivS are anmng the hardiest of ducks in the far North, and they ;ire 

 migratory only to the e.xtent in which the ice forces tlieni out of their suiiiiner 

 haunts and drix'es them to the open seas. Their occtu'rence so far south as 

 Puget Sound is rare, almost accideni.il, .-mil there is no I'ritisli (^'ohunbia record. 



Our chief interest in the Eider Duck attaches to its use of ilown in lining 

 its nests. Since it breeds under Arctic conditions, it is necessary that the eggs 

 be not exposed to the cold ;iir during the absence of the parent. Each da}', 

 therefore, as an egg is laid, in a grass lined depression on some moss-grown 

 slope or small knoll well back from the sea-shore, the Iiird plucks feathers from 

 her breast ; and when the set of six is coinjileted and incubation begun, the eggs 

 are quite buried in an abundance of soft, slate-colored down. Pacific Eiders 

 do not colonize as do S. iiiollissima. and others of the North .Atlantic waters. 

 The gathering of the clown has not, therefore, come to ha\e much commercial 

 im])ortance and mav nex'er reach the dimensions of a traftu". The Aleuts and 

 Ivskimos are not ignorant of its uses, ]iowe\'er. and the exi)loitation of Alaska 

 l)\' the white man is bringing such resources as lliese itito a regrettable promin- 

 ence. It is all very well for the nati\'es to subsist, as they have for centuries, 

 u]xin the eggs i>f l)irds, and to clothe themseh'es with their skins, hut the wild 

 life of .\laska cannol long bear up under the strain im])oscd u]ion it 1)\- an army 

 of gold-seekers. 



