LAMELLIROST^AL SWIMMERS 



160. EIDER. Somateria dresseri. 



Range. Atlantic coast, breeding from Maine to 

 Labrador and wintering south to Delaware. 



This species differs from the preceding only in 

 the fleshy part of the base of the bill, which ex- 

 tends back on each side of the forehead, it being 

 broad and rounded in this species and narrow and 



Greenish drab 



pointed in the Northern or Greenland Eider. This 

 species, but more especially the Northern Eider, 

 are the ones chiefly used for the eider-down of 

 commerce. The preceding species is often semi- 

 domesticated in Greenland, the people protecting Eider 

 them and encouraging them to nest in the neigh- Pacific Eider 

 borhood. They make their nests of seaweed and 

 grass and warmly line it with down from their 



breast; this down is continually added to the nest during incubation until 

 there is a considerable amount in each nest, averaging about an ounce in 

 weight. The birds are among the strongest of the sea ducks and get their food 

 in very deep water. Their flesh is not good eating. Their eggs number from 

 five to ten and are greenish drab. Size 3. x 2. 



161. PACIFIC EIDER. Somateria v-nigra. 



Range. North Pacific from the Aleutian Islands northward, and east to 

 Great Slave Lake. 



This bird is, in plumage, like the Northern Eider, except that it has a black 

 V-shaped mark on the throat. They nest sparingly on the Aleutian Islands, 

 but in great numbers farther north on the coast about Point Barrow. Their 

 habits, nests and eggs are precisely the same as those of the eastern forms. 

 Their eggs number from five to ten and are of olive greenish color. Size 3. x 2. 

 Data. Cape Smythe, Alaska, June 8, 1900. Eight eggs. Nest a hollow in the 

 moss, lined with grass and down. 



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