AMERICAN EIDER. 



Somateria dresseri Sharpe. 



In this species the colors of both sexes are precisely 

 like those of the preceding. The differences between 

 the two lie chiefly in the manner in which the feathers 

 of the front of the head meet the naked portions of the 

 bill. In these eiders, on either side of the forehead a 

 branch of the naked skin of the bill runs up into the 

 feathers, which border it above and below. In the case 

 of the common eider these branches are narrow and run 

 up nearly to a point, but in the American form they are 

 broad and terminate abruptly and bluntly. In the com- 

 mon eider, therefore, the feather patches running down 

 into the angles between the naked skin are broad, while 

 in the American eider they are narrow. There is also 



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