184 ' ANATID.E. 



Somateria spectabilis. KING-EIDER. 



Anas spectabilis Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 123 : 

 Hudson Bay. 



Somateria spectabilis (Linn.) ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, 

 p. 134 ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 1895, p. 432 ; 

 Saunders, Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 461. 

 8pectdbUis= worth seeing ; from specto = I watch. 

 Distribution in the British Islands. An Occasional Visitor, 

 though a considerable number have been obtained from time 

 to time in the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and on the east 

 coast of Great Britain down to Norfolk ; also at Achill 

 Island and on the north-east coast of Ireland. 



General Distribution. The King-Eider is an Arctic species, 

 nearly circumpolar in its distribution. It breeds in Kolguev, 

 Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, and along the coast of Siberia 

 to Bering sea, and thence eastwards across Arctic North 

 America to Greenland, where it has been found to about 

 82 N. latitude. In winter it visits Iceland, the Faeroes, 

 and the coast of Norway, and occurs rarely on the shores of 

 Denmark, Holland, France, and the Baltic, while it has been 

 obtained twice off the Italian coast. In America it has oc- 

 curred as far south as California and Georgia ; also in Iowa. 



Genus (EDEMIA Fleming, Phil. Zool. ii. 1822, p. 260. 

 Type : (E. nigra (Linn.). 



(Edemia (wrongly spelled Oidemia in the original description), from oidrifia 

 =a swelling, from olSew=I become swollen; referring to the tumid bill. 



(Edemia nigra. COMMON SCOTER. 



Anas nigra Linnceus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 123 : England. 



(Edemia nigra (Linn.) ; B. O. U. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 135 ; 

 Salvadori, Cat. Birds B. M. xxvii. 1895, p. 401 ; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 465. 



Nigra = black. 



Distribution in the British Islands. A Eesident, breeding in 



