S TELLER'S DUCK. 217 



Island, and in summer passes along the Siberian coast 

 from Kamchatka northward, moving, as winter ap- 

 proaches, to the Aleutian and Kurile islands to the 

 south. Steller's Duck frequents lagoons and the 

 mouths of large rivers, also outlying rocky islets and 

 exposed reefs, and feeds in the tide-rips, keeping along 

 the shore but not very close in, where the water is clear 

 and deep. It dives well and remains a long time below 

 the surface, seeking its marine food. In the Arctic Sea, 

 at Point Barrow, this species arrives in June and leaves 

 by the middle of August, and in Norton Sound the birds 

 are taken as late as the 15th of October, but those cap- 

 tured are mostly young of the year. At the Commander 

 Islands they arrive at the beginning of November, stay 

 all winter, and leave by the end of May. It will be seen 

 that this handsome Duck is a lover of cold weather and 

 ice-bound coasts, and makes no effort to join the hosts 

 that annually in the autumn seek a milder clime, but 

 dwells throughout the year along the cheerless, sterile 

 shores that bound the Arctic seas and islands. Al- 

 though it has been taken in various parts of Northern 

 Europe, even in the British Islands, there is no record 

 of its capture in North America south of the limits of 

 Alaska. 



HENICONETTA STELLERI. 



Geographical Distribution. Arctic and Subarctic coasts of 

 Northern Hemisphere, Islands in Behring Sea, Aleutian Islands, 

 and coast of Alaskan Peninsula, east to Kadiak. 



Adult Male. Head and upper part of neck, satiny white; 

 space around the eyes on each side of occipital tuft, chin and 

 throat, black. Lores and tuft of stiff feathers on occiput, pale 

 olive green. Lower part of neck,, middle of back, rump, and 

 upper tail coverts, blue black. Long scapulars, shining blue 

 black on outer web, and white on the very narrow inner web; 



