KING EIDER. 621 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. 



KING EIDER. 



(Plate 59.) 



Anas freti Ludsonis, Briss. Orn. \\. p. 360 (17G0). 



Anas spectabilis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 195 (1760) ; et auctorum plurimorum — 



Gmelin^ Latham, Temminck, (^Bonaparte), (Dresser), (Saunders), &c. 

 Anas beringii, G^nel. Si/st. Nat. i. p. 508 (1788). 

 Somateria spectabilis {Linn.), Buie, Isis, 1822, p. 504. 



Platj'pus spectabilis (Linn.), Brehm, Lehr. Natury. eur. Vog. ii. p. 816 (1824). 

 Fiiligula spectabilis (Limi.), Bonap. Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Turk, ii. p. 389 (1820). 

 Anas superba, Leach, fide Baird, Breiver, Sj- liidyway, Wuter-B, N. Anier. ii. p. 83 



(1884). 



Although it is probable that the King Eider breeds on one or two 

 islands off the British coast^ in the absence of eonclusive evidence that such 

 is the case_, it can only be regarded as a rare and accidental straggler to 

 our shores. Examples have been obtained in various places on the east 

 coasts of England and Scotland and in the Orkneys and Shetlands. It has 

 been seen in pairs at the Fame Islands in summer ; and Dixon observed it 

 near St. Kilda^ but failed to obtain specimens. In Ireland it is equally 

 rare, Thompson only recording four instances of its occurrence. 



The King Eider is a much rarer bird than the Common Eider or its 

 American ally, but is circumpolar in its range, breeding even further 

 north, probably as far as land extends. It probably breeds throughout 

 the coasts of Greenland, Spitzbergen, Franz- Josef Land, and Nova Zembla, 

 and on the islands off the north coast of Siberia, but appears to be only an 

 accidental straggler to Iceland, the Faroes, and the Scandinavian coast. It 

 has occasionally occurred on the coasts of Denmark and France. On the 

 American continent it breeds throughout the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, 

 occasionally straying in winter to Labrador, New Jersey, the Great Lakes, 

 and California. In all parts of its breeding-range where open water is to 

 be found throughout the year the adult birds are resident, but the young 

 wander southwards in winter. It has no very near ally. 



In its habits the King Eider very closely resembles the Common Eider, 

 but, unlike that bird, it appears sometimes to frequent fresh water, and is 

 occasionally found in small flocks on the Great Lakes of North America. 

 So long as it can find open water it rarely wanders far from its accustomed 

 haunts in the Arctic Regions. When driven away by frost it only retires 

 southwards as far as is absolutely necessary, and always returns as soon 

 as the water is open again. Young birds, however, frequently wander 

 far from home, and it is these that are usually captured in the south. 



