74 BIRDS OF ICELAND 



The King Eider drake can be recognised a long way 

 off by his 'crown,' a fleshy tubercle at the base of the 

 upper mandible, whicli is, like the bill, orange coloured. 

 This species is rather smaller than the Common Eider, 

 but otherwise much like it ; it is 24 inches long, and 

 has a wing of 11 J inches. The females, however, are 

 very difficult to distinguish from females of S. mol- 

 lissima, but they are rather smaller (length 22i- inches, 

 wing 10 J inches) and more of a rusty red-brown 

 in colour, than of an umber brown like the other 

 species. 



(Edemia nigra (Linn.). Common Scoter. 



Native name : ' Hrafnsond ' ( = ' Raven-duck,' and pro- 

 nounced ' Hrabsund '). Sometimes erroneously 

 called 'Diikond,' a name which belongs to the 

 Scaup. 



A summer visitor, not uncommon in the north, 

 breeding in some numbers on Myvatn and other 

 northern lakes, but seldom seen in the extreme south. 

 I have seen it on lakes on the ArnarvatnsheiSi, but 

 very rarely, and that would seem to be its southern 

 breeding-limit. Easily recognised by its colour, which 

 is in the male a uniform black, in the female a dark 

 sooty brown, a little paler underneath. The drake has 

 a patch of orange yellow on the top of the bill, which 

 is otherwise black; his length is 20 inches, wing 9J 

 inches. 



The nest is placed amongst willow bushes and other 



