152 



CAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



and states that Mr. A. H. Norton found it subsisting on sea 



clams, sea cucumbers {Pentacta Jromlosa), and very little else. 



Fig. 10 gives a very inadequate idea of the peculiar head 



of the male and no idea whatever of its beautiful and delicate 



coloring. The raised fron- 

 tal processes at the base of 

 the bill, which adorn the 

 head, develop immensely in 

 the breeding season, bulging 

 high above the rest of the 

 bill. These processes are 

 soft, and are supported upon 

 a mass of fatty substance. 

 They shrink and become 

 more depressed in winter, 

 when the general formation 

 of the beak is not much different from that of other Eiders. 

 The female, however, does not resemble the male, and is not 

 easily distinguished in the field from that of the American 

 Eider. When in hand, the general resemblance of the bill and 

 the head feathering to that of the male may be noted. As the 

 males do not migrate so far south as do the females and young, 

 it is not improbable that the latter are less rare in this latitude 

 than they are generally believed to be. Since the first edition 

 of this book was written Mr. W. Sprague Brooks has recorded 

 the taking of many specimens of this species in Massachusetts, 

 and others are noted as "seen." The dates run from "about 

 1850" to 1911, when four were seen and two taken. ^ 



Fig. 10. — Male. 



1 Auk, 1913, p. 107. 



