steller's eider duck. 55 



of the neck ; centre of the chest and upper breast chestnut ; 

 fore-neck and sides of the chest paler and more cinnamon, 

 extending down the sides of the body to the lower flanks, 

 which are whiter ; centre of the breast and abdomen, as well 

 as the sides of the vent and under tail-coverts, black, the latter 

 glossed with purple ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white ; 

 on each side of the upper breast a patch of purplish-black, 

 some of the feathers broadly-edged with this colour ; bill lead- 

 colour, horny-white at tip ; feet and toes lead-colour, webs 

 blackish-grey; iris dark brown. Total length, 17*0 inches; 

 culmen, i"6; wing, 8"3; tail, 3-5 ; tarsus, i"4. 



Adult Female. — Blackish above, mottled with rufous bars, very 

 indistinct on the lower back and rump, but more pronounced 

 on the hind-neck and mantle ; wnngs dark brown ; the greater 

 coverts tipped with white, forming an upper margin to the 

 speculum on the secondaries, which are externally metallic- 

 purple, and broadly tipped with white ; the innermost second- 

 aries slightly falcate, externally purple, and with a whitish 

 streak down the centre ; head and neck rufous-brown, slightly 

 mottled on the hind-neck and lower throat with rufous-buff; 

 fore-neck and chest dark chestnut, mottled with black centres 

 to the feathers ; breast and abdomen blackish-brown, the sides 

 of the body slightly more chestnut ; under wing-coverts white, 

 those round the edge of the wing blackish, with pale edges ; 

 lower primary-coverts and quill-lining ashy-grey. Total length, 

 i8*o inches; wing, 8"5. 



Young Birds. — Brown, much paler than the adult female, the 

 feathers of the upper surface margined with sandy-buff; the 

 lower surface dull chestnut everywhere, mottled with blackish 

 sub-terminal bars to the feathers; head brown; feathers round 

 the eye whitish, with dusky streaks ; sides of face and throat 

 dull buff, with dusky streaks and bars ; speculum as in the 

 female, but black, with scarcely any gloss; "bill daik blue; 

 feet and toes slaty-olive ; iris dark hazel " {E. W. Nelson), 



Characters. — Besides the generic characters given above, 

 Steller's Eider may be easily recognised by its peculiar and 

 striking coloration. The purple speculum present in both 

 sexes, bordered above and below by a white band in the female, 

 and the white head of the male with the green patch on the 



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