20 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 66 



quently and a few bred. One had been shot the night before I 

 arrived, but was cooked and eaten that morning. Between Point 

 Hope and Point Barrow they occur in small numbei's in suitable 

 localities. 



SOMATERIA V-NIGRA 



Pacific Eider 



The most generally distributed Eider in the region and very com- 

 mon everywhere along the coast. In the vicinity of Point Barrow 

 they are, however, exceeded in numbers by the following species. 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS 



King Eider 



From Cape Lisburne to Point Barrow this species occurs abun- 

 dantly. While anchored off Wainwright Inlet, great flocks were 

 constantly passing. As you looked northward over the great expanse 

 of water thickly dotted with drift ice, the eye became conscious of a 

 faint undulating grayish patch on the distant horizon, which ap- 

 peared like heat waves rising from the glaring beach sand of more 

 southern regions on a day in midsummer. As you watched, this 

 indistinct mass gradually became clearer, until at last you were able 

 to make out a vast flock of flying birds. Although the individual 

 birds were flying swiftly, the flock as a whole seemed to move 

 slowly and it was several seconds, often minutes, before they swept 

 by, usually a quarter of a mile or more from the ship, but the roar of 

 th^ir wings plainly audible, and finally disappeared to the southwest. 

 These flocks were mostly composed of King Eiders, and there were 

 few times during the day when one or more of them were not in 

 sight. 



At Point Barrow " ice cellars " are dug below ground in which 

 the temperature does not rise above freezing. While the Eiders are 

 flying large numbers are shot and placed in these cold storage cel- 

 lars for winter use, and I was told from i,8oo to 2,000 birds were 

 on hand at the time I landed there. Most of those I examined, 

 although originally in the best of plumage, were not then in condi- 

 tion to make into good specimens, but I secured one male in nearly 

 full " eclipse " that had been very recently killed and wa^ still un- 

 frozen. 



During the summer the King Eider occurs regularly as far south 

 as St. Lawrence Island where they doubtless breed, but I did not find 

 them about St. Michael or anywhere to the southward. 



