LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 75 



especially wanted : and durino; the two seasons he succeeded in 

 securing only one pair of the birds and did not find a single nest. 

 I doubt very much if they breed there at all at the present time, for 

 he saw only a few in the canal early in June, at which time they 

 seemed to be already mated ; they soon disappeared and were not* 

 seen again during the season. Wherever the center of abundance 

 may have been in Doctor Nelson's time, it is now to be found some- 

 where in northeastern Siberia, Avhere it is one of the commonest 

 eiders. 



Sfnng. — Doctor Nelson (1887) says: 



Although living so far north, yet it is one of the last among the waterfowl 

 to reach its breeding ground at the Yukon delta and the coast of Norton 

 Sound. My observations show this species to be strictly limited to the salt 

 marshes bordering the east coast of Bering Sea, and thus favoring the shallow, 

 muddy, coast waters, which appear to be so distasteful to Steller's eider. Very 

 soon after reaching their destination the flocks disband and the birds quietly 

 pair, but the first eggs are rarely laid earlier than the first days of .Tune. 



When first paired the birds choose a pond on the marsh, and are thence- 

 forth found in its vicinity until the young are hatched. Their love-making 

 is very quiet. I have never heard any note uttered except by the female while 

 conducting the brood out of danger. As the grass commences to show green 

 and the snow and ice are nearly gone, although the other denizens of the 

 marsh are already well along in their housekeeping, these ducks choose some 

 dry, grassy spot close to the pond, and making a slight hollow with a warm 

 lining of grass, they commence the duties of the season. 



Nesting. — The same writer gives us the following account of the 

 nesting habits of the spectacled eider : 



One nest found on June 15 was on a bed of dry grass within a foot of the 

 water on the border of the pond, and when tiie female Hew off the single egg 

 could be seen 20 yards away. Tussocks of dry grass, small islands in ponds, 

 and knolls close to the water's edge are all chosen as nesting places, and as 

 a rule the nest is well concealed by the dry grass standing about. If the nest 

 contains but one or two eggs the female usually flies off and remains until 

 the intruder is gone ; but if the set is nearly completed or incubation is begun 

 she will soon return, frequently accompanied by the male, and both circle 

 about, showing the greatest uneasiness. The female will sometimes alight in 

 the pond, within easy range, and both parents riiay l)e obtained by watching 

 near the nest. 



A set of 9 eggs of this species, .sent me by Rev. A. R. Hoare, was 

 collected at Point Hope, Alaska, on June 15, 1917, on a small islet, 

 about 3 feet .square, in a tundra pond, in which the water was from 

 3 to 4 feet deep; the nest was concealed in the long grass at the edge 

 of the islet and was composed of grass and very little down; the eggs 

 were fresh and more down would j^robably have been added later. 



Mr. T. L. Richardson sent we several sets of spectacled eider's 

 eggs from Point Barrow, Alaska. The nest shown in the accom- 

 panying photograph was evidently in plain sight, in a depression 

 in the tundra moss and grass, about 10 feet fi-om the sliore of a 



