SPECTACLED EIDER 321 



Spectacled Eider 



Arctonetta fischeri 

 (ark-to-net-a, fish-er-i) 



Colour Plate No. 25. Downy Young No. 34. 



SCIENTIFIC NAME 



Arctonetta, from Greek, arktos, meaning a bear (especially the brown bear of 

 Europe, Ursus arctos, also the constellation Ursa major}, hence, the North, and 

 netta, meaning a duck; fischeri, after Gotthelf von Waldheim Fischer (1771-1853), a 

 Russian naturalist. 



COLLOQUIAL NAMES 



Fischer's eider; small pistrik (the Russian name for eider). 



DESCRIPTION 



ADULT MALE. WINTER PLUMAGE: Head. Crest, of stiffened yellow-green 

 feathers on crown and hindhead; sides of crest and cheeks, sea green; a blended 

 band over forehead, yellow green; feathers of face and forehead, plush-like; neck, 

 chin, throat and feathers of forehead bordering bill, creamy white; a circle of 



dense silvery-white feathers framed in black (sug- 

 gesting spectacles) around eye; eye, white, ringed 

 with light blue; bill, dull orange, nail paler; 

 feathering on upper and lower mandibles extends 

 well past nostril. Body. Foreback and scapulars, 

 creamy white; hindback and rump, dark brown, 

 with greyish bloom; white patch on flanks near 

 rump; chest, breast, belly and sides, dark greyish 

 brown, with whitish bloom on chest and sides; feet, dull yellowish to olive brown. 

 Tail and its coverts, greyish brown. Wings. Lesser and middle coverts, creamy 

 white, forward lesser coverts dusky; greater coverts, greyish brown, narrowly 

 tipped with white, inner ones, white; primaries, dark greyish brown; outer sec- 

 ondaries, dusky, with small white tips; inner secondaries and tertials, long and 

 sickle-shaped, creamy white; lining, pale greyish brown and whitish; axillars, whitish, 

 speckled with greyish brown. 



ECLIPSE PLUMAGE: The moult into the eclipse commences in June, when the 

 brilliant plumage of the head and neck disappears; the spectacles become greyish 

 mottled with buff and the rest of the head and neck becomes variegated with 

 various shades of grey, buff and dusky; the white upperparts become plain brownish 

 or dark greyish, and the white flank-spots disappear. The full-plumaged wing is 

 renewed. 



AUTUMN PLUMAGE: The moult from eclipse to full winter plumage follows much 

 the same sequence as that described for the American Eider. 



ADULT FEMALE. The white "spectacle" of the male is represented by a 

 clarly-discernible circle of finely-marked pale-brown feathers. Otherwise, the gen- 

 eral appearance and coloration are the same as those of the female American Eider. 

 Eye, brown; bill, dull bluish; feathering on bill, same as in male; feet, yellowish 

 brown. 



JUVENILE. In the first autumn the sexes are much alike but quite different 

 from the adult female. The young male has the head and neck like those of the 



