KING EIDER. 



Eider is a native of both the Old and New 

 Worlds, and in North America is found across the 

 continent in the Arctic regions, and comes south in win- 

 ter on the Atlantic coast occasionally as far as New Jer- 

 sey. It is not so abundant as any one of the other species 

 of Eiders although large flocks are occasionally met with 

 in the far northern regions. It is a boreal species and 

 does not go very far south of its breeding places unless 

 driven by stress of weather, when a few appear within the 

 limits of the United States. It occurs at times on the 

 Great Lakes in winter, and has been recorded from Illi- 

 nois and Wisconsin, but does not frequent any part of 

 the Pacific coast south of Alaska. In that Territory it 

 is rare at St. Michael's, but is very common in Behring 

 Straits, on the Siberian side, and near Waukareen and 

 Tapkan and also on St. Lawrence Island. In the 

 summer from Icy Cape on the Arctic Sea, and thence 

 eastward, it occurs in large numbers, the birds being, 

 however, chiefly males, as at that time the females are 

 busy with their broods on the ponds and streams, away 

 from the coast. It is the handsomest of the Eider 

 Ducks, the delicate pearly gray crown of the head show- 

 ing to great advantage with the other colors of sea green, 

 black, and white of the head and neck, and deep buff of 

 the breast, all contrasted with the bright orange of 

 the bill. The nest is merely a depression in the ground 

 near water, sometimes on the beach, and lined with 

 down, on which are deposited usually six eggs, of a 



