BIRDS OF ICELAND 73 



-f Somateria spectabilis (Linn.). 

 King Duck, or King Eider. 



Native name : ' ^Sar-kongur,' ' Blikakoiigur.' 



An occasional visitor from more northerly climes. 

 Faber (Prodromus, pp. 67-68) states, amongst other 

 instances of its occurrence, that the King Eider bred 

 on Vic5ey, a small island near Eeykjavik where Common 

 Eiders are numerous, in 1819 and 1820. There is no 

 absolute impossibility that this may have been the 

 case, but it is at least unlikely. Male King Eiders, 

 in not quite adult dress, are not uncommonly to be 

 found during the summer in the company of male 

 Common Eiders some distance south of their breeding 

 grounds; as I have myself seen in ISTovaia Zenilya, 

 where the Common Eiders were breeding, and the 

 King Eiders were not. This is the explanation of 

 the appearance of King Eiders in Iceland in summer, 

 I feel sure ; they are individuals, not quite fully adult, 

 who do not feel impelled to go farther north to breed, 

 but stay where they have found comfortable quarters. 

 The Icelanders maintain, however, that the presence 

 of the King Eider drake in the breeding season is a 

 most fortunate circumstance for them, as his majesty 

 largely increases the fertility of the Common Eider ducks. 

 I have myself heard this gravely asserted ; and as long as 

 this myth survives, ornithologists will do well to spare, 

 at the same time, any King Duck they come across, 

 and also the feelings of the duck-farmers of those parts. 



