112 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Young. — Referring to the care of the young, the same observer 



says: 



On the arrival of the expedition at the ship's harbor on August 17 several 

 females, accompanied by their still downy young ones, were lying in the small 

 openings in the ice. Three days later I met with 5 broods of ducklings at 

 the mouth of Stormelven ; one of these broods was scarcely 1 week old. These 

 broods all contained 5 ducklings — in one case 6 were seen. The old birds 

 behaved very anxiously when I approached and swam, grunting, around quite 

 near me and the coast, while the young ones, with a surprising rapidity, moved 

 outwards, swimming and diving till they at last disappeared far out in the bay. 



Immature birds do not breed during their first spring and perhaps 

 not during their second, as the full plumage is not acquired until the 

 third winter, or when the young bird is about 2i/2 years old. These 

 young birds flock by themselves until they become of breeding age, and 

 frequent different resorts. They do not go as far north in the sum- 

 mer, are never seen on or near the breeding grounds, and they usually 

 Avinter farther south. Most of the straggling inland records are 

 made by birds of this class. Kumlien (1879) saw in July large num- 

 bers of these immature birds in Cumberland Sound, on the west coast 

 of Davis Straits, and around Disko Island. They were in various 

 stages of immature plumage, and the sexual organs of those he exam- 

 ined were not developed. Apparently these are the summer resorts 

 of the immature birds not yet ready to breed. 



Plumages. — The downy young king eider bears a superficial re- 

 semblance to the young of the common eider, but it can be easily 

 recognized by the shape of the bill, head, and feathered tracts at the 

 base of the bill. The bill is longer and more slender 5 the forehead 

 is more rounded and prominent, less sloping ; the feathered points on 

 the sides of the bill do not extend so far forward ; and there is a long, 

 slender feathered point extending out onto the culmen to the outer 

 end of the nostrils. The under parts are more extensively lighter, 

 and the upper parts are tinged with more yellowish buff. The color 

 pattern of the head is also different ; the crown is " bister," paling to 

 " Saccardo's umber " on the hind neck ; there is a broad superciliary 

 stripe of " pinkish buff," and a paler tint of the same color extends 

 down the sides of the head and neck, paling almost to white on the 

 throat ; there is a dark postocular stripe of " sepia," and the cheeks 

 and lores are washed with a paler tint of the same, leaving the lower 

 half of the pointed feather tract nearly white, as on the throat. 

 The colors on the upper parts shade from " Saccardo's umber " 

 anteriorly to " bister " on the rump. The under parts are grayish 

 white. 



The progress toward maturity in the young male king eider ad- 

 vances by similar stages and at the same rate as in the common eider. 



