34 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



THE RUFOUS-BREASTED EIDER DUCKS. 

 GENUS HENICONETTA. 



Eniconctta^ G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. 1840, p. 75. 

 Type, H. stelleri (Pall.). 



Although recognised as one of the Eider Ducks, and placed 

 by many naturalists in the genus Somateria, Steller's Duck, 

 which is the sole representative of the genus, possesses certain 

 structural characters which cause it to be placed in a genus 

 apart. The edges of the upper mandible are bent inwardly, 

 the lower mandible has the apical portion flat and almost 

 spatulated, and both male and female have a metallic alar 

 speculum (cf. Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 327). 



There is only one species of the genus Heniconetta, viz., the 

 following : - 



i. STELLER'S EIDER DUCK. HENICONETTA STELLERI. 



Anas stelleri, Pallas, Spic. Zool. fasc. vi. p. 35 (1769). 



Stelleria dispar, Macg. Br. B. v. p. 164 (1852). 



Somateria stelleri, Dresser, B. Eur. vi. p. 649, pi. 447 (1871); 



Saunders, ed. Yarr. Br. B. iv. p. 468 (1885); Seebohm, 



Br. B. iii. p. 613 (1885); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 451 



(1889). 

 Heniconetta stelleri, B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 133 (1883); Salvad. 



Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxvii. p. 419 (1895). 



Adult Male. General colour above blue-black, from the 

 lower hind-neck to the tail, the latter being also black ; wing- 

 coverts and scapulars pure white, the long ones slightly sickle- 

 shaped, metallic purplish-blue, with a longitudinal white centre ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dusky-blackish, darker 

 on the outer web and the end of the inner web, this dark por- 

 tion having a purplish gloss ; the secondaries metallic-purple, 

 tipped with white, forming a speculum, the inner ones white 

 on the inner web, the innermost sickle-shaped, purple exter- 

 nally, white internally ; head satiny-white, with a faint greenish 

 spot on the lores; eyelid purplish-black, wider below; nape 

 greenish, with a purplish-black spot on each side ; malar-line 

 and throat purplish-black, separated from the chest by a band 

 of white across the fore-neck, which joins the white on the sides 





