KING EIDER. 89 



Nest, on the ground, composed of dry grass, moss and sea weed, lined with 

 down and feathers. 



Eggs, six to ten, drab, tinged with green. 



The Eider Duck is essentially a bird of the sea coast, breeding 

 abundantly along the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador. Its 

 visits to our inland waters are made during the season of migration, 

 when the movements of all migratory birds are considerably affected 

 by the prevailing winds. On Lake Ontario it is a casual visitor in 

 winter, but is seldom, if ever, seen there in mature plumage. 



The one in my collection is a young male in the garb of the 

 female. I shot it from the pier of the canal at the entrance to 

 Hamilton Bay a few years ago. They were seen occasionally all that 

 winter, but they were known to be " fishy," and as there is nothing 

 attractive in their dress they were not much disturbed, although they 

 allowed a nearer approach than other water-fowl are disposed to do. 



On the 7th November, 1889, Mr. George R. White captured a 

 young male of this species on the river near Ottawa. It was in the 

 plumage of the female. 



Mr. William Cross obtained a specimen which was shot at the 

 island near Toronto on December 6th, 1890. 



Mr. Frazer found the Eider Duck breeding on the small islands 

 along the coast of Labrador. The nest was built in a hollow among 

 the soft short grass, or at the foot of a rock where it was sheltered 

 from the wind. It was composed of grass and lined with slate- 

 colored down from the breast of the bird. 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS (Lixx.). 

 57. King Eider. (162) 



Adult, male: Bill, pale yellow ; at the base of the upper mandible is a 

 compressed gibbous substance of a bright orange color, the front covered with 

 short black feathers, the sides margined with the same color, the feathers 

 extending back in a point nearly to the eye ; head, bluish-gray, darkest behind ; 

 cheeks, shaded with sea green, a spot of black below the eye; on the throat, 

 two lines of black forming an inverted V ; middle of neck, white ; lower neck 

 and forepart of the breast, buff; lower plumage, blackish; a large spot of 

 white on either side of the rump ; posteriorly, black ; wings and tail, brown, the 

 former broadly marked with white. When in full plumage the secondaries 

 curve over the primaries. Length, 25 inches. Young : Dark brown, many 

 feathers on the neck margined with white ; gibbous substance on the bill 

 scarcely perceptible. Female : Much like the common Eider, the shape of the 



