WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 61 
more like those of the surface-feeding Ducks, to which, rather 
than to the other diving-ducks, they are allied. 
The Common Eider. 
Somateria mollissima, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., 
Birds; Vols X XVII, p. 425. 
This Eider has a large strong bill, with the feathering of the 
face running down it, both from the forehead and on the sides 
from the cheeks. The male is chiefly white above, black on the 
wings and below, with a black cap and a patch of light green 
at the back of the head. His bill and feet are olive-green, 
and eyes dark. In undress he is nearly all black. 
The female is mottled-brown, sometimes with a black wing-bar 
bordered with white. The male is about two feet long, with a 
bill about two inches long, shank rather less, and closed wing 
nearly a foot. It isa large, heavy-looking Duck. 
This bird, the celebrated producer of the Eider-down of com- 
merce—or at least some of it—ranges from Iceland east to the 
Yenisei, and ranges south in winter to the Mediterranean ; it 
is practically purely a sea-duck. It is replaced in America by 
a very nearly-allied race (S. dressert). 
The Pacific Eider. 
Somaterta V-nigvrum, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., 
Birds, Vol. XXVII, p. 430. 
Has an orange bill in the male, which also possesses a black 
V-shaped mark on the throat. It inhabits the northern coasts 
of the Pacific, and when breeding does not keep so close to 
the sea as the common Eider. It is this species which may 
be expected to occur on the Chinese coast in winter. 
The King Eider. 
Somateria spectabilis, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., 
Birds, Vol. SXVIL p. 432. 
In this species the male has a large knob on the forehead ; 
his plumage is mostly white above and black below as in the 
Common and Pacific Eiders, but the cap is lavender-grey. The 
bill is red, orange on the basal knob, and the legs orange-red. 
The female is like the common Fider female, but has the fea- 
thering of the forehead running’down further than in that bird, 
