69 



THE SUPPOSED OCCURRENCE OF THE 



PACIFIC EIDER {80MATERIA V-NIGRUM) 



IN BRITISH WATERS. 



BY 



F. SMALLEY. 



Many ornithologists will doubtless remember the announce- 

 ments which appeared in several papers during- the winter 

 of 1904-05 relative to the supposed occurrence of an adult 

 Pacific Eider drake (^Somateria v-nigrum) in Orkney waters. 

 In the first number of this Magazine (p. 15), Mr. Saunders 

 gives it as his opinion that this bird is only a Common 

 Eider, and I have already expressed the same conviction 

 in conjunction with Mr. J. L. Bonhote in the Bulletin of 

 the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. XIX., p. 80. 



Having made a thorough examination of the specimen 

 in question, I am in a position to prove, beyond doubt, 

 that it is not a Pacific Eider, but merely a Common Eider 

 {S. mollissima) , showing an abnormal phase of pliunage, 

 namely, an indistinct V-shaped mark on the throat. It 

 will be well to give first the history of this bird, and also 

 that of similar specimens which have been obtained since. 



In the winter of 1904, Mr. Clarke, the taxidermist of 

 Scarborough, receiving an order to procure an adult Eider 

 drake in the flesh, for Mr. Stubbs, of Oldham, wrote 

 to George Sutherland, of Graemsay, Stromness, Orkney, 

 requesting him to procure a good specimen. Sutherland 

 secured a fine adult drake from one of the flocks passing 

 Graemsay Light, and on reaching home both he and his 

 uncle, Sam Sutherland, noticed a small and indistinct 

 V-mark on the throat, but thought little of it at the time. 

 "When the bird reached Mr. Stubbs he at once noticed the 

 V-mark, and noted carefully the colour of the soft parts. 

 Coming to the conclusion that the bird must be a Pacific 



