CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 10/ 



LX. POLYSTICTA Eyton. 1836. 



157. Steller Duck, 



Polysticta stelleri (Pall.) Eyton. 1836. 



Recorded in the east only from Disco bay, Greenland, from Cum- 

 berland sound and from Godbout and Point des Monts, Quebec. 

 The Godbout specimen was secured by Mr. N. A. Comeau in Feb., 

 1898. Previous to that time Mr. Comeau had noticed individual 

 birds, which he did not recognize, among flocks of well known 

 species. After examining the Steller eider he came to the conclu- 

 sion that the birds formerly seen by him were that species. A more 

 detailed account of the occurrence of this bird was published by 

 Mr. A. K. Fisher in The Auk, Vol. XVII, p. 65. 



Throughout the Aleutian chain it is a common resident, very 

 abundant in winter, but less common in summer. It also breeds 

 upon St. Lawrence island and a nest has been taken on Unalaska. 

 (Nelson.) This duck is rare at St. Michael; on the southern and 

 eastern shores of Bristol bay and the northern shores of Alaska it 

 is plentiful. Among the Aleutian islands it is rarely seen in sum- 

 mer, in winter it abounds at Unalaska. (Turner.) This beautiful 

 little duck is far from a rare bird during the late spring and summer 

 at Point Barrow and vicinity. Their breeding ground appears to 

 be some distance off, as they le^ve to breed about the end of June. 

 (Murdoch.) 



Breeding Notes. — Dall says the pairing season of this species, 

 in Alaska, commences about May ist, and thence through the 

 breeding season they are found in pairs. He also states that if a 

 nest is visited it is abandoned at once. He found a nest on May 

 i8th, 1872, on a flat part of a small island near Unalaska. It was 

 built between two tussocks of dry grass, and the depression was 

 carefully lined with the same material. The nest was entirely con- 

 cealed by overhanging grasses, and was revealed only by the bird 

 flying out at his feet. The nest contained a single egg. (Nelson.) 



LXI. ARCTONETTA Gray. 1855. 



158. Spectacled Eider. 



Arctonetta fischeri (Brandt) Blakiston. 1863.- 

 The spectacled eider has until very recently been credited with 

 a very restricted range on the Bering sea coast of Alaska. My 



