194 



ELE UTHERODA CTYLI—EMBR YOLOG V 



Kino-Duck, (J (After Swainson.) 



Ai'ctic Expedition does not seem to have met with it after leaving 

 the Danish settlements, and its place is taken by an allied species, 

 the King-Duck, S. spedabilis, a very beautiful bird which sometimes 

 appears on the British coasts. The female greatly resembles that 

 of the Eider, but the male has a black chevron on his chin and a 



bright orange prominence on 

 his forehead, which last seems 

 to have given the species its 

 English name. On the west 

 coast of North America the 

 Eider is represented by a 

 species, S. v-nigrum, with a 

 like chevron, but otherAvise 

 resembling the Atlantic bird. In the same waters two other fine 

 species are also found, ^S*. Jischeri and S. sfelleri, the latter of which 

 also inhabits the Arctic coast of Russia and East Finmark, and has 

 twice reached England. The Labrador Duck, S. lahradoria, which 

 is now believed to be extinct (see Extermination), also belongs to 

 this group. 



ELEUTHERODACTYLI, Forbes's name {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1880, 

 p. 390) for all the Passeres except the Desmodactyli or 

 Eurylasmidse (Broadbill), but 



ELEUTHERODACTYLOUS is sometimes said of any bird 

 which has its toes free and not connected by a web, or otherwise 

 bound together ; equivalent to Fissipedal of some older authors. 



ELK (Icelandic Alft), a name formerly used, but perhaps now 

 obsolete, for the ordinary Wild or Whooper-SWAN. 



EMBER (otherwise IMMER) GOOSE— Dan. Imher ■ Sw. Immer, 

 and Emmer • Icel. Himbririi — a name applied in the northern Islands 

 of Britain to the Great Northern 'Diver. 



EMBRYOLOGY, from Ijifipvov, a growth within. Very few types 

 of Birds have been studied embryologically, and for obvious reasons 

 the common Fowl has always been the favourite ; but recently 

 the early development of the Duck, Goose, Pigeon, Starling, Melo- 

 psittacus, and Apteryx has also been investigated.^ Later embryonic 

 stages being more easily procured and preserved by field-ornitho- 

 logists have been studied in a greater number of species, such as 

 the Ostrich, Gulls, Guillemots, and the Rook, besides the forms 

 mentioned above. These investigations have, however, shewn that 

 the variations in the early development of different Birds are only 

 of general importance. Until about the fifth or sixth day of 



^ M. Braun, "Die Entwicklung des AVellenpapageis, " Arbeit, dcr zool. -hot. 

 Inst. Wilrzburg (1879), v. pts. ii. and iii. 



