148 



Inhabits the arctic regions, migrating southwards in the winter, like several of the other known 

 species of the genus, on both the American and European continents ; breeds in the neighbourhood 

 of Hudson's Bay, on the borders of fresh water lakes, laying eight or ten white eggs. On the 

 commencement of incubation the males, like those of the eider, form themselves in large flocks 

 and desert the females. 



The trachea of this species is very curious: it has two bulbs on the tube., the lower one com- 

 posed of tracheal rings firmly ossified together; the upper one, situated immediately below the 

 glottis, instead of being composed like the lower one of tracheal rings, is separate from the trachea, 

 which passes through it, communicating with it by an orifice on each side. The inferior larynx, 

 unlike the diving ducks in general, is not bulbous ; the trachea is acted upon by two pairs of 

 muscles, the first the usual sterno-tracheal ones, the other (furculo-tracheal) have their attach- 

 ment a little before the middle bulb. For a figure of this see Vol. 15, Part 21. of the " Linnaan 

 Transactions," illustrative of a passage by Mr. Yarrell on the organs of voice in birds, and our own 

 plate. 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. 



Sum. Mas. — Capite supra et oecipite cinereis; genis viridibus ; rostrum tubercula magna basali. 

 Sum. Fem. — Sequenti similis, sed tubercula minore basali. 



KING DUCK. 



Male eider, with the head above and occiput cinereous ; the cheeks green ; the bill with a 

 large tubercle at the base. 



Fem. eider, like the following species, but with a smaller tubercle at the base of the bill. 



Length 241 Inner toe 1 ^ 



Bill 1 l-Gth Middle toe 2g 



Tarsi 1 5-6ths Outer toe 2£ 



8 



Male : with the crown and occiput light cinereous grey ; cheeks light green ; round the base 

 of the bill a band, and on the chin a V shaped mark black ; remainder of the neck, breast, anrl 

 upper part of the back white, slightly tinged with purplish; lower part of the back, tail (pulls, 

 tertiaries, scapulars, and under parts black ; tail and greater wing coverts white ; bill and legs red, 

 the former with a large knob at the base, the top of which is covered with feathers. 



Fem. : in colour resembling the female of the common eider ; but can lie distinguished by the 

 knob at the base of the bill being larger. 



