STELLER'S EIDER. 613 



SOMATERIA STELLERI. 

 STELLER'S EIDER. 



(PLATE 59.) 



Anas stelleri, Pall. Sjnc. Zoel. vi. p. 35, pi. v. (1769) ; et auctorum pluiimorum 

 Gmelin, (Middendorff), (Baird), (Degland), (Neivtori), (Dresser), (Sounders), 

 &c. 



Anas dispar, Sparrm. Mus. Carls, no. vii. C1786). 



Anas occidua, Bonn. Tabl. Encyd. Meth. i. p. 130 (1790). 



Clangula stelleri (Pall.}, Bow, Isis, 1822, p. 564. 



Fuligula dispar (Sparrm.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xii. pt. ii. p. 206 (1824). 



Macropus stelleri (Pall.), Nutt. Man. Orn. ii. p. 451 (1834). 



Polysticta stelleri (Pall.), Eyton, Hist. Ear. Brit. B. p. 79 (1836). 



Stellaria dispar (Sparrm.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. $ N. Amer. p. 57 (1838). 



Harelda stelleri (Pall,), Keys. S? Bias. Wirb. Eur. p. 230 (1840). 



Somateria stelleri (Pall.}, Jard, Brit. B. iv. p. 73 (1843). 



Eniconetta stelleri (Pall.}, Gray, List Gen. B. p. 95 (1846). 



Steller's Eider, the Western Duck of Pennant, who figured it from an 

 example in the Leverian Museum obtained on the west coast of America, 

 is the Western Pochard of Selby, and the S teller's Western Duck of Yarrell. 

 It has very slender claims to be regarded as a British bird ; but it is possible 

 that a stray individual may occasionally wander westward from Russian 

 Lapland as far as our shores, and two such occurrences are on record, 

 one in 1830 and the second in 1845. The first example is said to have 

 been shot at Caistor, near Yarmouth (Yarrell, Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. iv. 

 p. 117), on the 10th of February, and is supposed to be an almost adult 

 male, in the Norwich Museum ; but there are several discrepancies in the 

 details of its subsequent history which throw some doubt on the authen- 

 ticity of the alleged occurrence. The second example was shot by Mr. 

 George N. Curzon, at Filey Brigg, in Yorkshire, on the 15th of August 

 (Bell, 'Zoologist/ 1846, p. 1249), and was a male assuming its nuptial 

 dress. These records are rendered probable by the occurrence of two or 

 more immature examples on the island of Heligoland, a locality for rare 

 birds which is less open to doubt than any other in Europe, thanks to the 

 genius of the veteran ornithologist who resides there. 



Steller's Eider has a very limited range, being only known to breed 

 on the shores of the Arctic Ocean in North Russia and Siberia, and on 

 the islands in Behring Sea. It was originally described by Pallas from 

 examples obtained by Steller, who found it breeding on the shores of 



