KING-EIDER 141 
few occasions in Norfolk, a bird taken at Breydon Harbour 
on July 25th, 1813, being probably the earliest British 
specimen recorded (Yarrell, ‘ British Birds’). The following 
counties have also yielded specimens :—Northumberland 
(Farne Islands), Durham, Yorkshire, Essex and Suffolk. 
A female bird, purchased in Leadenhall Market, is now in 
the possession of Mr. J. H. Gurney. 
In Scotland, a few examples have been obtained from 
the coasts of Haddingtonshire, and from the Firths of Forth 
and Tay; there are several records also from the Orkneys 
and Shetlands. Recently, viz., February 25th, 1899, a male 
was taken at Lerwick, one of the last-named group of 
islands (Harting, ‘ Handbook of British Birds,’ 1901, p. 466). 
In Ireland the King-Eider is exceedingly rare; it has 
been procured on three or four occasions, and only once 
from the west coast. Its occurrences are as follows :— 
A female obtained in Kingstown Harbour (Dublin), about 
October 1st, 1837 (Thompson) ; another female obtained in 
Belfast Lough on March 11th, 1850, now preserved in the 
Belfast Museum (Thompson) ; a third female procured in 
Rathlin Island, in November, 1861, as recorded by the late 
Robert Gage in his list of Rathlin Birds made in 1889 
(Ussher). 
The fourth specimen, which proved to be an immature 
male, was shot on Achill Island, co. Mayo, on December 
12th, 1892, and is now in the collection of Mr. Edwin 
Bayles, in Birmingham (J. R. Sheridan, ‘ Irish Naturalist,’ 
£593, p. 177). 
DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTERS. 
PLUMAGE. Adult male nuptial.—Top of head and nape 
of neck, bluish-grey ; neck, yellowish, except the front which 
is white ; cheeks, light green and white ; under the chin is a 
black patch; upper region of the back, whitish; wings, 
black, except a large white patch on the coverts ; inner 
secondaries, long and curving down over the primaries ; 
lower region of the back, scapulars, and upper tail-coverts, 
black; tail, dark brown; upper breast, rich buff; lower 
breast and abdomen, black; flanks, patched with white. 
Adult male, post-nuptial or eclipse.-—Somewhat resem- 
bles the female plumage, but the shades are darker, and 
the throat is marked with traces of black; there is very 
little white on the wings. 
