﻿2 OLDHAM, On the Ocairrence in Britain of the P acific Eider. 



darker green. The tail feathers are a more intense black 

 than in the Common Eider. Apart from the distinct 

 V-shaped mark on the chin, the Pacific Eider differs from 

 .5. molhssima in the extent and distribution of the pale 

 green feathers of the occiput. In Gray's description of 

 the species (2) it is stated that in the male the green of 

 the occipital region extends in the direction of the eyes 

 .as a border to the black crown ; and this character is 

 shown in the plate by Wolff which accompanies the 

 -description. In the Orkney bird the green colour is 

 restricted to the occiput, as in 5. mollissima, but the green 

 feathers form an incipient crest. The bare spaces at the 

 base of the bill form more acute angles than in 6". mollis- 

 sima, as does the wedge of feathers in the centre of the 

 upper mandible. In the freshly-killed bird the long 

 creamy-buff scapulars were slightly rosy, though less so 

 than the breast. This rosy tinge appears to be evanescent, 

 as it is in many birds, e.g. the Goosander and Little Gull, 

 and has already faded considerably. 



Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, of the British Museum, to whom 

 Mr. Stubbs submitted a description and sketches of the 

 Eider, confirmed his identification, and after the bird 

 had been skinned and set up, exhibited it on his behalf 

 at the meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club on 

 January 19th (3). 



In the meantime the Scarborough dealer wrote to 

 Mr. Stubbs to the effect that the Eider had been con- 

 signed to him in the ordinary course of trade by an 

 Orkney wildfowler — whose name was withheld — and was 

 forwarded to Oldham within half an hour of its arrival 

 in Scarborough, without having undergone a scrutiny 

 which might have revealed its identity. Enquiries made 

 in Orkney, through an entirely independent channel, have 

 elicited the information that the bird was shot out of a 



