300 AMEKICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING. 



readily recognized by having no white on the wings, and 

 having the nail occnpy the whole tip of the short bill. 

 The female is grayish in hue. An adult varies in length 

 from fourteen to nineteen or more inches. The male is 

 known in some places as ''old Injun." and the female as 

 "old squaw. '^ Both are clamorous callers, and exceed- 

 ingly noisy, though their tones are rather melodious. 

 Although shot in large numbers from boats, their flesh 

 is almost uneatable, owing to its dry and fishy flavor. 

 Having a a rapid and irregular mode of flight, they are 

 rather difficult to hit, especially in windy weather. The 

 Indians eat them greedily when they have an opportu- 

 nity, so that they are not wholly useless to man. 



Steller's eider duck {Somateria stellerii), which is con- 

 fined to the Northwest coast, has a black collar, a black 

 chin-patch and eye-ring, and a general reddish-brown hue, 

 which is darkest below. It has a length of about eighteen 

 inches, and a proportionate weight. It is little sought 

 for even by the littoral Indians of British Columbia, 

 owing to the character of its flesh. 



The spectacled eider {8.fischerii) is blackish; the throat, 

 neck, scapulars and wing-coverts being white. This is a 

 common resident of the waters of the Northern Pacific 

 Ocean, being, according to the naval authorities, abund- 

 ant off the coast of British America and Alaska. 



The eider, or sea duck {S. mollissima), is common on 

 the Atlantic Coast from Labrador to New England. 



A variety known as var. V-nigra, from having a V- 

 shaped black patch on the chin, is found on the shores of 

 the Pacific. The male eider is of a whitish hue in the 

 spring, except the l^reast, the lower back, the tail, and a 

 patch on the crown of the head, which are black. The 

 female is a reddish-brown, and the male is of the same 

 color at certain seasons, so that they can only be dis- 

 tinguished apart by their size, the latter being about two 

 feet in length. 



