BIKDS. 79 



noted by ine where the nest was so near human habitations. The nest is usually lined with dead 

 grasses and sometimes fragments of moss when the first egg is laid, and the down is added as the 

 eggs multiply. The male is a constant attendant of the female until her eggs are nearly all depos- 

 ited,' when he begins to lose interest in family affairs, and dozens of them maybe found at all 

 hours sunning themselves upon the long reefs about shore, and if we are behind the scenes on the 

 marshes they may be seen flying silently back to their partners as the dusky twilight of night 

 approaches from 8 to 10 in the evening. As the males congregate about the reefs they have a low 

 guttural note, which is the only one I have heard this species utter. 



From the 15th to the 20th of June nearly all the males desert their partners and are thence- 

 forth found at sea or about outlying reefs and islands in large flocks, as already described. 



Toward the end of June the first young appear, but the majority are not hatched until the 

 first of July. As the young are hatched they are led to the nearest large pond or tide-creek, and 

 thence to the sheltered bays and mouths of streams on the sea coast. About this time the females 

 lose their quill feathers, and, like the young, are very expert in diving at the flash of a gun. 



At this time the Eskimo amuse themselves by throwing spears at the young, but the latter 

 are such excellent divers that they are rarely hit. 



As a rule the young do not fly before the 10th of September, and broods with the female are 

 often seen unable to fly even later. The female has dingy olivaceous yellow feet and tarsus ; the 

 bill dull greenish yellow, paler at the nail ; iris dark hazel. 



As the end of September approaches they become more and more scarce, and thence on until 

 the cold weather forces them south are only found off the outer reefs and islets. 



The male appears to assume a plumage very similar to that of the female in fall, but in spite 

 of my efforts I could not secure a single individual in this dress. In May, 1877, while 400 miles 

 off the Aleutian Islands in the Pacific, an eider, apparently this species, was seen heading north. 



During the cruise of the Corwin these ducks were found nesting along the Bering Sea coast 

 of Siberia, but becoming rare along the Arctic shore. Northwest of the Straits, east of Point Bar- 

 row to the mouth.of the Coppermine Eiver, this species occurs in great abundance. 



The considerable difference in breeding habits between the Pacific Eider and its North Atlan- 

 tic relative is very striking, the S. molissima nearly always nesting in colonies, even so far north 

 as Spitzbergen. The walrus hunters in the latter region credit the females with the habit of steal- 

 ing eggs from one another, and say that the male stays near and gives the alarm on the approach 

 of danger. 



In color the eggs of the v-nigra are very similar to those of the Spectacled Eider, being, liKe 

 them, of a light olive drab. They are usually of a decided oval, and measure from 3.12 by 2.04 to 

 2.87 by 2.03. 



SoMATEEiA SPECTABILIS (Linn.). King Eider (Esk. Gnd-hliJc). 



On the Yukon, nearthe rapids, several hundred miles from its mouth, Mr. Dall found a specimen 

 of this handsome bird lying dead on the river bank, this forming the only inland record in the 

 Territory. The set of eggs from Saint Michaels, doubtfully identified as of this species by the 

 same author, probably belong to some other species. 



The same naturalist found it a not uncommon winter resident in the Aleutian Islands at 

 Unalaska, and it undoubtedly occurs along the entire chain at this season and far southward along 

 the Pacific coast. He records the color of the iris as varying from a pale clay-brown to a light 

 warm brown. At Saint Michaels I found the King Eider a very rare bird, and although it is well 

 knowQ to the Eskimo they say it is nearly always found at sea far offshore. Two specimens, young 

 of the year, were brought me on October 12, 1879, and were the only ones taken during the four 

 years of my residence there. In Bering Straits, especially on the Siberian side, and on Saini: 

 Lawrence Island they were common. This was particularly the case in Saint Lawrence Bay, where 

 large flocks were seen. Along the low coast northwest of Bering Straits, near Waukarem and 

 Tapkan, they were extremely abundant in company with Steller's Eider and formed immense flocks. 



During the same months, July and August, they were found in large numbers also near the 

 ice- fringed coast of Alaska from Icy Cape to Point Barrow and thence eastward. The birds seen 



