296. 
708 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIROSTRES — ANSERES. 
wings, to sooty brown, on the flanks to hs eee A white patch between bill and eye, 
curving upward and backward to margin the black coronal stripe, changing to chestnut from 
over eye to nape. A round white spot on side of hind-head; a long white spot on side of 
upper neck; a white collar around neck, interrupted or not before and behind; a white 
crescent on side of breast in front of wings; these marks black-bordered. A white spot on 
wing-coverts ; a white bar across ends of greater coverts and some of the secondaries; outer 
webs of inner secondaries mostly white; scapulars mostly white. A white spot on each side 
of root of tail. Speculum me- 
tallic purplish or violet. Two 
or three years appear to be 
required to perfect this plu- 
mage; the ¢ is found in alinost 
every condition between this 
and the plumage of the ? ; the 
final stage is the completion of 
the white ring around neck and 
white tips of secondaries. @Q : 
Bill dusky; feet dull bluish- 
gray. Iris brown. A whitish 
spot before eye and behind ear. 
General plumage on head and 
upper parts dark brown, dark- 
est on head and rump, the 
lower parts similar, more gray- 
ish, passing through gray mot- 
tling to whitish on belly. Thus 
the Q@ is a very small and 
obscure duck, widely different 
from the ¢ ; observe the small 
size, very short bill, only about 
i) 
1.00 along culinen, higher than 
wide at base ; plumage without 
definite markings excepting the 
two spots on each side of the 
head; extent of dappled gray 
and white on the under parts 
very variable. Length of ¢ 
yz -:16.00-17.00; extent 24.00- 
27.00; wing 7.00-8.00; tail 
3.00-4.00; tarsus 1.30; bill 
Fig. 493. — Bills of Eiders, } nat. size, viewed from above and in profile. along culmen 1.10, aon gape 
1, S. mollissima; 2, S.m dresseri. (From Sharpe.) 1.50. Europe, Asia, N. Ain., 
northerly and chiefly coastwise, but also in interior; S. in winter to Middle States and Cala. ; 
breeds in R. Mts. of U. S., and northward, as from Newfoundland to Alaska. Nest in the 
hollow of a tree or stump, of weeds and grasses and parents’ down; eggs 6-8, 2.10 X 1.60, 
greenish. The harlequins are in some places called ‘lords and ladies.” 
SOMATE/RIA. (Gr. cdpa, caparos, soma, somatos, the body; éprov, erion, wool, down.) 
Epers. Bill varying in conformation with the species; in one simple, much as in Histrio- 
nicus for example, without special gibbosity or peculiar outline of feathers; in the rest 
variously tumid or gibbous, with very various dispositions of frontal processes and cutlines of 
