62 WATER FOWL OF INDIA AND ASIA. 
reaching the level of the nostrils, whereas in the common Eider 
female it does not come more than half-way. SBeside, the 
present species is a smaller bird, with the male’s bill only a little 
over two, the shank less than two, and the wing hardly over 
ten inches. This is purely an Arctic Duck, found all round the 
world, but it has occurred in winter as far south as Venice, and 
may turn up in China. 
The Spectacled Eider. 
Arctonetta fischeyt, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., Birds, 
Vol. XXVAL spy A2z2: 
In the male of this curious Duck the plumage is mostly white 
above and dark-grey below, with the back of the head olive- 
green, but the most characteristic point is a satiny white patch, 
bordered with black, round the eyes, which is white ; the bill 
is orange and the feet olive. The female is mottled-brown with 
a bluish bill. 
The male measures about twenty-one inches, with the bill an 
inch long and the shank about one and-a-half; the wing is 
ten inches. This Duck inhabits the North Pacific, on both 
sides, but is best known as an American bird. 
Steller’s Eider. 
Heniconetta stelleri1, SALVADORI, Brit. Mus. Cat., Birds, 
Vol. XXVII, p. 419. 
This is the smallest of the Eiders, with none of their charac- 
teristic peculiarities of bill or face, but very beautiful plumage 
in the male, which has long hanging shoulder-plumes, of a deep 
blue with white edgings. The general colouration is complicated 
and difficult to describe; the head is white, varied with olive- 
green and blue-black; there is a white patch on the wing, and 
a purple bar following it; the back is blue-black, and the under 
parts chestnut. The bill is gray and the feet brown, the eyes 
dark. The female is of a mottled-brown, with a purplish-black 
bar, bordered with white, on the wing. 
The male is only about eighteen inches long, with the bill just 
under two inches, and the shank little over one; the wing mea- 
sures about eight and-a-half. 
Steller’s Eider inhabits the high northern latitudes of both 
worlds, but is rare in the west of the Old World; it may perhaps 
be found to occur on the Chinese coast in winter. 
