King Duck. 485 



Markham, in his narrative of the voyage of the Alert, during the 

 expedition of 1875-76, says it is one of the few birds which, they 

 met with in some numbers in those high latitudes ; and more 

 recently Lieutenant Greely, in his disastrous expedition of 1881-84, 

 found it breeding in hundreds on Littleton Island, in the month 

 of August, in latitude 78. There is an opinion entertained by 

 Ekstrom and some other Norwegian naturalists that there are 

 two kinds of Eider in Scandinavia, the Common and the Smal- 

 ndbbad, or ' Narrow-billed,' but this opinion has not been gene- 

 rally endorsed. Professor Skeat says that ' Eider ' is entirely a 

 Scandinavian name, and this has been adopted in most European 

 languages ; in France it is Canard Eider; in Germany, Eiterente; 

 but in Italy, Oca settentrionale. 



194. KING DUCK (Somateria spectabilis). 



This is another species of Eider Duck, more rare in England 

 than the last, but frequenting the same or even still more 

 northern latitudes than its better-known congener. It is also a 

 very handsome bird, and the well-contrasted colours of its 

 plumage attract notice. The only information I have of its 

 occurrence in this county is a short note by my friend the late 

 Rev. G. Marsh, who wrote, ' The King Duck in my collection was 

 killed in Wilts/ but I have no farther particulars of date or 

 place of capture. The down of the King Eider and its mode of 

 nesting, as well as general habits, are identical with those of 

 S. moilissima. The specific name, spectabilis, means ' worth 

 seeing,' as applied to the splendour of its plumage. In Sweden 

 it is called Prakt Ejder, or ' Beautiful Eider ' : and, indeed, it 

 does wear right royal robes, and comports itself as every inch a 

 king. But not on that account do we assign it the rank of 

 royalty, but because of the remarkable orange-coloured comb or 

 knob resembling a crown which it wears on its head : and so the 

 Icelanders dubbed it Aeder Kongr, or 'Eider King'; and we, 

 taking the hint from those who are more familiar with it, call it 

 the ' King Duck.' During the breeding season it resorts to very 

 high northern latitudes; and as it is found there in immense 



