2 20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Somateria spectabilis (Linnaeus) 

 King Eider 



Plate 19 



Anas spectabilis Linnaeus. Syst. Nat. Ed. 10. 1758. 1:123 

 Fuligula spectabilis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 334, fig. 251 

 Somateria spectabilis A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 162 



specta'bilis, Lat., conspicuous 



Description. The feathering on the forehead reaching as far forward 

 as the posterior end of the nostril, feathers on the lores reaching only halfway 

 to the nostril. Adult male: Bare space on side of upper mandible enlarged 

 into a broad rounded lobe; top and back of head bluish gray; V-shaped 

 mark on the throat, feathers around the base of the upper mandible and 

 small eye spot black; cheeks greenish; neck, upper back, sides of rump 

 and wing coverts white; upper breast creamy buff; rest of plumage black. 

 Female and young: Like the American eider in color, but the feathering 

 about the sides and top of the bill like the male. 



Length 20-25 inches; wing 10.5-11.3; tarsus i. 8-1. 85; bill i. 25-1. 32, 

 female 2 inches. 



The King eider is a winter visitor on the coast of Long Island as well as 

 the inland lakes of New York. It occurs much more frequently than the 

 American eider and may be considered a regular winter visitor, sometimes 

 being decidedly common, as in the winter of 1879 on Lake Erie, and the 

 winter of 1886-87 off the eastern end of Long Island. Its breeding range 

 extends from the Gulf of St Lawrence northward. It is a deep water duck 

 and feeds mostly on mussels which it is able to procure, it is said, in water 

 upward of 150 feet in depth, and occasionally is caught like the Old squaw 

 in the deep water gill nets of the lake fishermen. In the breeding season 

 the males go into the "eclipse" plumage and flock together on the open sea. 

 The female lines her nest with down as do the other species of eider, thus 

 furnishing the famous eider down of commerce, which is gathered by the 

 natives of Iceland, Greenland and Norway. This is taken chiefly from 

 the Greenland and European eiders, each nest yielding about 5 ounces 

 of down in a season. 



The following are some of the records for the interior. 



Onondaga lake. Jan. 20, 1877. c? adult. Auburn List, p 39 

 Buffalo, N. Y. Nov. 26, 1879. (18 shot). Allen, N. 0. C. Bui., 5: 62 



