144 



the Oxford Expedition '): seven was normal, while many nests 

 had 8, and nests with 9, 10 and even 13 were noted. In the latter 

 case two /emales had probably laid in one nest. According to le 

 Roi (1911, p. 241), it is also possible that they appropriate eggs of 

 other females, even of other species, viz. Brent Geese and Long- 

 tailed Ducks. 



On leaving the nest, the Ç covers the eggs with "down to protect 

 them. If she leaves suddenly, she squirts a stinking fluid over them, 

 perhaps for the same reason. Only the female breeds. In the be- 

 ginning of the breeding season the male is often found near the 

 breeding female; but soon they leave the holms. 



The Eider suffers not only from man but also from the Arctic 

 fox. Trevor Battye (1897) records that in 1896 not a single Eider- 

 duck bred on the Anser Isles, a family of foxes having settled 

 here. The Glaucus Gull and the Skua's are their enemies too: 

 Glaucus gulls were always found near the holms. 



As in the Glaucus Gull and the Kittiwake immature birds are 

 never or very rarely seen in Spitsbergen during breeding time: 

 they must spend their first summers in other parts of the Arctic. 



In the beginning of July the drakes unite in flocks and towards 

 the end of the month I saw but few males on the holms. In the 

 same month they get their summer plumage of which small dark 

 feathers begin to show in the pure white of neck and wings. To- 

 wards the end of July, they lost all their primaries at the same 

 time. According to Zedlitz (1911, p. 319) they moult in open sea 

 between Bearisle and Spitsbergen, but this is also done in the 

 Fjord. On the eastern moraine of the Bore Glacier, I saw on July 

 28 large troups (hundreds) of males still capable of flying, but on 

 Aug. 6 they had lost all their primaries and could escape only by 

 swimming. 



Somateria spectabilis (L.), the King-Eider. 



So7nateria spectabilis (L.), Trevor Battye (1897), p. 585. 

 Somateria spectabilis (L.), Kolthoff (1903), p. 57. 

 Somateria spectabilis (Linn.), Schalow (1904), p. 165. 



1) One of these, consisting of 7 eggs, is now in tlie Zoological Museum 

 at Amsterdam. 



