86 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



where it assembled in the pools of melted water, in the neighborhood of Bellot's 

 Straits. A few of these Ducks annually breed as fur to the south as the 15ay of 

 Fuudy, where Mr. Cheney has several times during the summer found its nest, and 

 has procured specimens for Mr. Boardman. 



This bird is seen every winter on the coast of Massachusetts; but only as an 

 occasional visitor, and never in any considerable numbers, except about Nantucket. 

 Some four or five — usually young males — are seen almost every winter in the 

 Boston market. 



The Eiders are generally supposed to be exclusively Sea-Ducks — by which name 

 they are universally known on the coast of New England; and it is not infrequently 

 stated that they are not known to occur in fresh water. However rare these excep- 

 tions may be, the Common Eider, both in Labrador and on the coast of Norway, has 

 been found spending the breeding-season in inland fresh-water marshes, or on the 

 borders of lakes, several miles from the sea. This species furnishes also a noticjeable 

 exception to the general rule of its occurrence, in that it has been found in flocks on 

 the waters of Lake Erie, above the Falls of Niagara, several hundred miles from the 

 sea-coast. 



Mr. Charles Linden, of Buffalo, in a letter bearing date of Nov. 21, 1874, writes : 

 " In regard to the occurrence of the King Duck (Somateria spectdb'dis) on Lake Erie, 

 I saw the bird in question, and it proves to be a young male, with the well-marked 

 characteristics of the species clearly and unmistakably developed. Two flocks of 

 these birds, numbering from five to eight each, have been observed this month on 

 Niagara lliver. Two specimens, male and female, both young, and with very imma- 

 ture plumage, were shot two years ago within Ave miles of Buffalo, and these were 

 found also to belong to the same species — spectuhllis. Both were mounted by myself, 

 and are now in the collection of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science." 



Mr. Nelson cites this species also as being a rare winter visitant to Lake IVIichigan 

 and to otlu - parts of Illinois and Wisconsin. There are also in the Smithsonian Col- 

 lection spe. .mens of young female King Eiders shot in the winter of 1874-1875 on 

 Lake Erie, and of others secured on the Illinois Eiver the same season. 



Mr. Hearne makes mention of this species as being quite connnon in Hudson's 

 Bay. So far as he had noticed, it visits only the sea-coast, and there feeds on flsh 

 and fish-spawn. It breeds in that locality, as he speaks of its eggs as being excellent 

 eating, though the flesh is said not by any means to be held in high esteem. 



Sir John Richardson speaks of this species as a Sea Duck, and as having never 

 been known bj' him to occur in fresh water. Its food — he says — is princii)ally the 

 soft mollusca so common in northern Avators. This Duck is "^aid to be only })artially 

 migratory, rarely moving fartlier south than is necessary to enable it to get access to 

 open water. The older birds, in the mature plumage, are supposed to be very rarely 

 met with south of the 59th parallel. However true Richardson's statement may be 

 as a general rule, it is not without a considerable number of exceptions. 



Although rarely taken within the limits of the United States, the King Duck has 

 occasionally been seen as far south as New York. Mr. Giraud mentions having had 

 the good fortune to procure an adult male of this spe(nes in perfect plumage, which 

 had been shot on Long Island Sound in the winter of 18.39. He also states that, 

 during the winter, at Egg Harbor, N. J., as well as on the shores of Long Island, 

 young King Eiders are oecas^onally observed; but the adult specimen in his pos- 

 session, and one other, were the only individuals in full and mature plumage he had 

 ever known to be procured in the vicinity of New York. 



In the Appendix to Sir Edward Parry's First Voyage Colonel Sabine states that 



