646 



It is stated to be tolerably common in the northern parts of Greenland. According to 



Professor Newton it is said not to breed further south than lat. 62° N., but in some numbers at 



lat. 73°. It is also found on the east coast of Greenland and on the western shores of Davis's 



Strait, and breeds abundantly on the Parry Islands. Professor Newton, in the appendix to 



Baring Gould's ' Iceland,' says that it is " by all accounts a rare bird in Iceland, and generally 



only a straggler from Greenland or elsewhere. Yet Faber says that a pair bred on VrSey in 



1819 and 1820 among the multitudes of the common Eider. He only mentions, besides, the 



occurrence of one at Hofsaas a few years before his visit, and one washed up dead at Eyrarbakki, 



December 25, 1820. Mr. Baring Gould was shown a skin of this bird at Akureyri." In the 



Faeroes it is said to occur, singularly enough, during the summer ; but it has not with certainty 



been known to breed there. It is a straggler to the coasts of Scandinavia. Mr. Robert Collett 



informs me that " it has not yet been found breeding in Norway, but visits the northern portions 



of the coast every winter in larger or smaller flocks, being much more numerous in some years 



than in others ; and sometimes it may be met with in all the larger fiords and off most pai'ts of 



the coast of Finmark. The Christiania University Museum lately received several King Eiders 



in the flesh, both old and young, from near TromsS, where they are usually found in January 



and February, and are, as a rule, somewhat shy. The fishermen know this Duck by the name of 



' Spitsbergs Edderfugl,' and say that a few young males occasionally remain there over the 



summer, but never have any old ones been seen there at that season." Pastor Sommerfelt states 



(Ofv. K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1861, p. 88) that it is most certainly not a common bird in East 



Finmark, and Schrader was doubtless mistaken in stating that it was. In the large flocks of 



Eiders that range about in the late autumn the common Eider is by far the most numerous, 



Steller's Ducks form a not inconsiderable portion, but the King Eider is, compared with the 



other species, very scarce. Nilsson says that he has received it from the shores of Ostgothland, 



and, according to Mr. Lundborg, four were shot in April off Kalmar. It is found in Finland. 



Dr. Palmen states that, according to Fellman, it has been seen and shot in Utsjoki and Enare, 



and on the south coast near Helsingfors it is met with annually. It has occurred at Kotka, near 



Borga, Sibbo, Enskar, Esbo, Kyrkslatt, and Porkkala, and frequently in the early spring on 



O 



Aland, in the parishes of Kokar and FoglS. According to Mr. Gronfeldt it has been observed 

 near Bjorneborg, but is not otherwise recorded from the Gulf of Bothnia. In the north of 

 Russia it appears to be rather scarce ; but I have received examples from near Archangel, and 

 it is found in Novaya Zemlya and Spitsbergen. Mr. G. Gillett writes (Ibis, 1870, p. 309) as 

 follows: — "In Matthew's Straits on the 6th August I saw several of these birds in small flocks, 

 all apparently immature males. I shot two specimens: their wings were entirely destitute of 

 quill-feathers, so that they could not fly ; but they dived in a wonderful way, and were very 

 difficult to get. They were apparently full-grown, but were dark brown on the head and back 

 and blackish in places. The protuberance on the bill was of a rich orange, shading off on the 

 bill itself to a pinkish flesh-colour ; the irides dark." It would appear to be rare rather than 

 otherwise in Spitsbergen. Professor Malmgren says that he is certain that it is not found 

 breeding on the coasts above 79° 5' N. lat., as they have been fully explored. The only reliable 

 data respecting its occurrence there are, he says, as follows, viz. : — Professor Loven informed him 

 that he saw it in the Isfjord in 1837; Professor Nordenskjold says that two females were shot 



