ANATIN.E — THE DUCKS — SOMATERIA. 



81 



awl entire lower parts from the breast back, deep black ; primary coverts, primaries, and tail 

 blackish dusky ; rest of the plumage, including the falcate tertials, continuous white, the breast 

 tinged with creamy buff (much less deeply than in .s'. mollissima), the upper half of the nape, the 

 auricular region, and the upper 

 border of the cheeks deeply 

 stained with yellowish green ; 

 throat with a large V-shaped 

 mark of velvety black. Bill or- 

 ange red, paler terminally (light 

 reddish in the dried skin), the 

 nail yellowish white ; iris dark 

 brown ; feet yellow. Adult fe- 

 male: Light fulvous, barred with 

 black, the bars widest on the 

 scapulars ; head and neck finely 

 streaked with black, the throat 

 nearly immaculate ; abdomen 

 usually plain grayish brown ; 

 greater wing-coverts, primary 

 coverts, remiges, and rectrices 

 plain grayish dusky, the greater 

 coverts and secondaries distinctly 

 tipped with white. Young: Sim- 

 ilar to the adult female, but 



upper parts dusky, the feathers 

 bordered with rusty fulvous, the 

 greater coverts and secondaries 



not tipped with white. 



Wing, 11.75-12.75 inches; 

 culmen, 1.80-2.20 ; from tip of 

 bill to end of basal angle, 2.50- 

 3.10 ; greatest width of angle, 

 .20-.30 ; tarsus, 2.00-2.30 ; mid- 

 dle toe, 2.50-2.85. 1 



This species — essentially 

 an Eider in all respects, not 

 only in habits, appearance, 



but in all the peculiar characteristics of this well-marked form — replaces the 

 TtwUissima on the northwestern coast of America, and on the Arctic Ocean, at least 

 as far to the east as the mouth of the Coppermine River. Mr. Bernard Ross records 

 it as occurring at Great Slave Lake, lat. 61° north, and long. 114° west ; but it was 

 rare in that locality, only two specimens having been obtained. 



Mr. Dall mentions finding this Duck common in the Island of St. Michael's in the 

 month of July, at which time his observations began. It was known to the Russians 

 as the Large Pistrik. So far as he was al ile to observe, it appeared to have a very 

 limited range — as much so as that of Arctonetta Fischeri. Individuals were much 

 more numerous, and large flocks of males were frequently seen near the Fort. By 

 September all had assumed a uniform brown color, with dark peneillings. The eye 

 is said to be hazel. They all left in a body about the first of October. 



Mr. Bannister also speaks of this Duck as breeding in abundance in and around 

 St. Michael's. In the early spring, when it first made its appearance, the sexes 



1 Nine examples measured. 



