SO MATE HI A 633 



( ad. (Greenland). Crown and nape pale ashy blue, sides of head 

 pale green ; a large protuberance on the upper mandible over the middle 

 of which a black line is continued to the gape ; a spot under each eye and 

 a large V-shaped mark from the chin to the sides of the upper throat 

 black ; upper back, central lesser wing-coverts, and a large patch on 

 each side of the rump while ; rest of upper parts,, wings, tail, and 

 under parts below the breast black ; inner secondaries elongated 

 and curved ; upper throat white ; lower throat and upper breast warm 

 cream-coloured ; bill red, the nail yellowish ; naked protuberance bright 

 orange ; legs dull orange-reddish, the webs blackish ; iris brown. Gape 

 2'35, wing 10'3, tail 3*5, tarsus 17 inch. The female differs from that of 

 S. mollissima in being smaller, darker, and in having the central line of 

 feathers on the upper mandible extending quite down to the nostrils. 



Hob. The Arctic portions of Europe, Asia, and America, 

 straying south in winter, when it occurs rarely in Great Britain, 

 Scandinavia, North Russia, North Germany; rare in Spitsbergen; 

 has once been obtained near Boulogne and once as far south as 

 Venice ; in America it ranges in winter south to New Jersey 

 and the Great Lakes. 



In habits and nidification it resembles S. mollissima. It 

 breeds in Greenland, Novaya Zemlya, the Arctic shores of Siberia 

 and Arctic America, and its eggs, usually 6 in number, are 

 similar to those of S. mollissima in shape and colour, but are 

 smaller, measuring about 2 '52 by T77. 



876. SPECTACLED EIDER. 



SOMATERIA FISCHERI. 



Somateria fachwi (Brandt ), Mem. As. St. Petersb. v. pp. 6, 10, 14, pi. 1, 

 figs. 1, 4 (1847) ; (Elliot), 111. B. N. Am. pi. 47 ; (Tacz.), F. 0. Sib. 

 0. p. 1198 ; (Nelson), Eep. Nat. Hist. Coll. Alaska, p. 76, pi. v. fig. 1 ; 

 (Salvadori), Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxvii. p. 422 ; (Eidgway), p. 198. 



(J ad. (N.W. America). Space round the eye dull satiny white, 

 bordered anteriorly and posteriorly by a vertical black line ; fore-head 

 and lores covered with stiffened feathers, white anteriorly shading into 

 olive-buff and then into greenish buff ; crown and occiput covered 

 with a hood of stiff pendant light olive-green feathers ; quills, tail, and 

 larger wing-coverts brown ; throat, neck, and upper parts with a patch 

 on each side of the rump yellowish white ; rump and under parts dark smoky 

 grey ; bill orange ; legs dull olive-brown, but dull yellowish on the front 

 of the tarsus ; iris milky white. Culmen TO, wing lO'O, tail 3*0, tarsus 

 1-7 inch. The female is barred with light fulvous and black, the abdomen 

 plain greyish brown ; head and neck light greyish buff finely streaked 



