70 



LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS — ANSERES. 



Hab. Coasts of Alaska, chiefly in the vicinity of Norton Sound, north to Point Barrow. 



Sp. Char. Adult male: Orbital region silky white, bordered anteriorly and posteriorly by a 



vertical line of velvety black ; lores and foreliead white anteriorly, then olive-green, this passing 



gradually into light greenisli buff next to the black bar bounding the orbital region anteriorly ; 



middle of the crown, whole occiput, and upper part of the nape light olive-green ; a broad stripe 



beneath the white orbital space, extending 

 back to the nape, deep silky dull green> 

 abruptly defined except posteriorly ; remain- 

 der of the head and neck Avhite. Entire 

 lower parts, including the breast and jugu- 

 luni, rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, reniiges, 

 greater and primary wing-coverts, and alula) 

 plain plumbeous-drab ; entire back, scap- 

 ulars, wing-coverts (except the greater), 

 falcate tertials, and patch on each side the 

 rump plain yellowish white ; axillars pure 

 white. Bill light reddish in the skin (orange 

 in life) ; iris pale bluish ; feet brownish. 

 Adult female, in summer: Above, light ful- 

 vous, barred with black ; jugulum, sides, 

 flanks, and upper tail-coverts similar ; rump 

 darker ; head and neck light grayish bulf, 

 finely streaked with dusky, the throat near- 

 ly immaculate ; abdomen and anal region 

 plain grayish brown ; greater wing-coverts, 

 remiges, and rectrices grayish brown, the 

 first, with the secondaries, indistinctly tipped 

 with white. 



Total length, about 21.50 inches ; wing, 

 10.00 ; tarsus, 1.70 ; commissure, 2.20. 



The female and young birds of this 

 beautiful species may be distinguished from 

 the other Eiders (of the genus Somateria') 

 by the peculiar feathering over the base of 

 the bill (extending to the nostril, as in the 

 adult male), and by the distinctly indicated 

 Male. circum orbital ring. 



We are indebted to Mr. Dall for the little we know in reference to the history and 

 distribution of this very rare and, unfortunately, little known species. He met with 

 it in 1867 in and around the Island of St. Michael's, and at a later period in the 

 Aleutian Islands. It was introduced by Mr. Cassin in the ninth volume of the 

 Pacific Railroad Eeports, on the supposition that in severe winters it would ultimately 

 be found on our coast ; although it at that time was only known from the descriptions 

 and figures of Brandt and Gray, and had only been obtained in Norton's Sound, in 

 Russian America, 63° 30' north latitude. Mr. Dall informs us that, so far as he then 

 knew, it breeds only in the marshes which lie between the Island of St. ]\Iichaers 

 and the mainland, and are intersected by a narrow channel called the Canal. It was 

 not seen near the mouth of the Yukon, nor even a few miles south of the Canal, 

 nor, according to the repeated assertions of the natives, is it found on any point 

 of Norton's Sound to the north of St. Michael's. Its winter habitat was then 

 unknown, but was supposed to be possibly Cook's Inlet or Bristol Bay. It is 

 not abundant, even at St. Michael's. Several specimens which had been reported 

 to have come from other localities have all been definitely traced to that point. 



