SUBFAMILY FULIGULINM. 293 



of the culmen exposed, the rest covered by a mass of dense vel- 

 vety feathers that come to a point beyond the nostrils which are 

 partly hidden beneath them. From the culmen these feathers 

 pass obliquely downward to edge of maxilla, and then backward 

 to the end of the mouth. A line of feathers extends from chin 

 on mandible nearly as far forward as those on the culmen. Nail 

 occupying most of the tip, but there is no hook. Tertials falcate. 

 Tail rounded, feathers inclined to a point. 



One species represents this genus— the curiously marked 

 Fischer's or Spectacled Eider of the northwest coast of America. 

 It is common enough in the localities it frequents, but rarely 

 comes to the southward of Alaska, and is pre-eminently a bird 

 of the Arctic regions. 



GENUS SO MATERIA 

 (Greek o-w/ia, soitia, body -f ipiov, erioti, wool). 



Somateria, Leach in Ross' Voy. Disc, app., 1819, p. xlviii. 

 Type Anas mollissima, Linn. 



Culmen about half as long as head. Bill slender with acute or 

 rounded lateral, nearly parallel, processes reaching on the fore- 

 head between the extension of the frontal feathers and those on 

 the sides, the former of which go nearly to the nostrils. Sides of 

 bill tapering to the tip. This is entirely covered by the nail, 

 which extends downward over the mandible when the bill is 

 closed. Nostrils situated just in advance of the lateral feather- 

 ing on the maxilla. Tertials curved downward over the wing. 



This genus contains four well-characterized species, distributed 

 in the Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Some are 

 celebrated for their down, which is collected during the breed- 

 ing season from the nests, and is an important article of com- 

 merce. It is plucked by the female from her breast to serve as 

 a protection to the eggs. Three of the species are closely re- 

 lated, but the fourth, the King Eider or King Duck, differs in 

 having a large squarish frontal process near the base of the bill. 

 This, if permanent, would perhaps necessitate the removal of the 

 species to a separate genus, but as it only exists during the 

 breeding season, and at all other times the bill does not materi- 

 ally differ in outline from those of the other Eiders, the species 

 is properly retained in the same genus with them. A subgeneric 



