BRITISH BIRDS. 325 



height of the crown of the head, and is divided in 

 the middle by a black velvet looking line, which 

 reaches the brow, and passes downward on each 

 side, from the corner of the eyes to the edge of the 

 bill near the gape of the mouth, where the feathers 

 are of a tawny yellow, and the same above the 

 eyes, the under orbits of which are black; a white 

 line falls down from the corners of the eye to the 

 neck; from this a black stripe passes to the joint of 

 the under mandible, ending in a point at the chin; 

 the head and neck are pale ash: the cheeks and 

 auriculars are of a pea-green colour, and have the 

 appearance of velvet shag; this colour fades into a 

 dull white on the sides towards the chin and neck: 

 the lower part of the neck and breast are tinged 

 with buff: the upper part of the back and the 

 coverts, are white; a patch of the same falls over 

 the sides of the upper tail coverts : the secondaries 

 curve downwards over the primary quills, like 

 those of the Eider Duck, and these, as well as the 

 rest of the plumage, are black. The female is 

 without the protuberance on the bill: the whole 

 plumage is in deeper and lighter shades of brown, 

 resembling the female Eider Duck : the breast 

 feathers are brown, margined with darker-coloured 

 edges; those of the scapulars and sides are much 

 darker than those in the middle, and are edged 

 with pale or whitish brown. 



These birds are common in Baffin's Bay, Hud- 

 son's Bay, and Greenland,* where they remain 



* Their flesh is accounted excellent; the natives of those cold 

 regions make garments of their skins. They kill them with darts, 

 and use the following method : A number of men, in canoes, 



