CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 103 
it abounds at Unalaska. (Zzrner.) This beautiful little duck is 
far from a rare bird during the late spring and summer at Point 
Barrow and vicinity. Their breeding-ground appears to be some 
distance off, as they leave to breed about the end of June. 
(Murdoch.) 
BREEDING NotEs.— Dall says the pairing season of this species, 
in Alaska, commences about May Ist, and thence through the 
breeding season they are found in pairs. He also states that if 
a nest is visited it is abandoned at once. He found a nest on 
May 18th, 1872, ona flat part of a small island near Unalaska. 
It was built between two tussocks of dry grass, and the depression 
was carefully lined with the same material. The nest was en- 
tirely concealed by overhanging grasses, and was revealed only 
by the bird flying out at his feet. The nest contained a single 
egg. (lVelson.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 
One specimen shot on Kadiak Island, on the Alaskan coast, 
September, 1894. 
LX. ARCTONETTA Gray. 1855. 
158. Spectacled Eider. 
Arctonetta fischert (BRANDT) BLAKISTON. 1863. 
The Spectacled Eider has until very recently been credited 
with a very restricted range on the Behring Sea coast of 
Alaska. My own observations show this species to be strictly 
limited to the salt-marshes bordering the east coast of Behring 
Sea, thus favoring the shallow, muddy, coast waters, which 
appear to be distasteful to Steller’s Duck. (WVe/son.) This bird is 
common in the vicinity of St Michael, where it arrives early in 
May. Along the coast of Bristol Bay it is very abundant ; 
it occurs among all the Aleutian Islands, where it breeds and is 
a constant resident, but extremely shy. (Zzrner.) This bird was 
found to be a regular, though rather rare, summer visitor at Point 
Barrow. It evidently breeds not far from the station, as a female 
was taken in June, 1883, with an egg in the oviduct just ready for 
laying. (Murdoch. 
BREEDING Notes.—In the vicinity of St. Michael this species 
rarely arrives before the 15th of May. Very soon after reaching 
