KING EIDER 317 



FIELD MARKS 



(A circumpolar species, found wintering on the North Atlantic coast and 

 sometimes found on the Great Lakes.) These are 

 large, clumsy-looking ducks. The male has a black 

 back as well as a black breast and, in flight, shows 

 large white wing-patches (The Northern, American 

 and Pacific Eiders also have black breasts but the 

 backs are white). At a distance the foreparts of 

 the male appear white, and the hindparts, black; 

 this colour pattern is unique among the ducks. The 

 pose on the water and the style of flight are simi- 

 lar to those of the American Eider. The female 

 appears as a large, rich-brown, heavily-barred duck 

 and cannot be separated, except in hand, from the other large, female eiders. 



VOICE. Courtship voice of male, a loud rolling call in threes, increasing in 

 volume on the last note, urrr-urrr-URRR. Also a soft cooing sound, usually at 

 night. 



LIFE STORY 



The beautiful and showy King Eider inhabits the northern circum- 

 polar regions of both hemispheres. Of all the eiders, however, it is the 

 one that is most frequently found south of its natural habitat. It is often 

 seen on the Great Lakes and on the eastern and western coasts of the 

 United States and Canada. It nests in the remote subarctic regions and, 

 in part, spends the winter as far north as it can find open water. Bent 

 (1925) says that "in southern Greenland it associates with the Northern 

 Eider in the open water in the fjords, but probably the greater number 

 spend the winter at sea on the edges of the ice packs or in the open leads. 

 On the western side of the continent the principal winter resort of this 



species is in the vicinity of the Aleutian Is- 

 lands, where so many other sea ducks find con- 

 genial surroundings and abundant food. Some 

 few birds winter as far north as the Diomede 

 Islands, and many resort to the islands south 

 of the Alaska Peninsula." 



"No one who has not observed the migra- 

 tion of the King Eider along the Arctic coast 

 of Alaska can realize the enormous abundance 



of this species in the north. . . . The birds travel mostly in large flocks 

 of 75 to 350 birds, following the shore line but keeping at least a mile 

 from land. They spread out in a long line, the birds flying nearly abreast, 

 but in the larger flocks quite a few will be bunched toward the center, 

 or sometimes two or three small parties of 10 to 20 birds will follow 

 directly in back of the main line. There is an undulating motion to these 

 flocks when seen at a distance similar to that of a flock of Canada Geese. 

 They fly some 30 or 40 feet above the water or ice and follow in what 

 appears to be the exact course of the flock that had passed a few moments 

 before. During the 10 days that this migration was under observation 



