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approach and familiarity of treatment, even, in some in- 

 stances, suffering itself to be handled upon the nest without 

 apparent alarm. 



THE KING EIDER. Somateria spectabilis. The strong- 

 hold of this species, which is rare in Britain, is near to the 

 Arctic Circle, where it breeds on the sea-shore, as well as in 

 the neighbourhood of fresh-water ponds. On some of the 

 rocky islands off the coast of Spitsbergen this species has 

 been found breeding in great numbers. " The sailors could 

 scarcely walk without treading on their nests, and sacks 

 might have been filled with the eider- do wn.*" The nest of 

 this bird, like that of the Common Eider, is lined with the 

 soft down of the female, and contains five eggs, resembling 

 in colour those of the last species, but in size they are rather 

 smaller. 



STELLER'S WESTERN DUCK. Somateria Stellerii. This 

 very beautiful bird is one of the rarest species both in Eu- 

 rope and America ; but we were fortunate enough to see a 

 very carefully preserved specimen in the spring of the pre- 

 sent year, at the house of Mr. Gardner, 426, Oxford-street, 

 London. It will not surprise our readers when we add that 

 we are without any reliable particulars relative to its breed- 

 ing habits. " It is said to breed like the Eiders." 



