110 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
not less than .45, depth of upper mandible at frontal apex 
1.00-1.28. Adult female: Bill from posterior end of nostril 1.32, 
angle 1.87 (width .22), depth of upper mandible .78. Eggs 2.97 
< 2.01. Hab. Atlantic coast of North America, from Maine to 
Newfoundland and southern Labrador; south, in winter, to the 
Delaware and the Great Lakes. 
160. S. dresseri SaHarpe. American Eider. 
b?. Distance from anterior extremity of loral feathering to extremity of naked 
angle on side of forehead, less than distance from same point to tip of 
upper mandible; adult male with a V-shaped mark of black on throat. 
Plumage otherwise essentially as in S. mollissima and S. dresseri; bill 
of adult male bright orange or orange-red in life, with paler tip. 
‘ Male: Wing 11.75-12.75, culmen 1.80-2.20, length of bill to point 
of basal angle 2.50-3.10, greatest width of angle .20-.30, tarsus 2.00- 
2.30. Female: Wing 11.50-12.50, length of bill to point of basal 
angle 2.50-2.65. Hggs 2.96 x 1.96. Hab. Northwestern America, 
east to Great Slave Lake; northeastern Asia. 
161. S. v-nigra Gray. Pacific Eider, 
a. Anterior point of feathering on forehead reaching as far forward as posterior 
end of nostril, the loral feathering extending only about half as far. Adult 
male with scapulars and tertials black, the top of the head light bluish gray ; 
lateral base of upper mandible, in adult male, enlarged into a very conspicu- 
ous broad lobe, the width of which at widest part exceeds the depth of upper 
mandible at anterior end of nostril. (Subgenus Hrionetta Couzs.) 
Adult male with a V-shaped mark of black on throat,.as in S. v-nigra. Fe- 
male and young hardly different in plumage from other species, but very 
readily distinguishable by different outline of feathering at base of upper 
mandible, as pointed out above. Wing 19.50-11.25, bill to end of basal 
lobe 1.20-1.30 in male, about 2.00 in female, tarsus 1.80-1.86. Eggs 2.77 
X 1.83. Hab. Northern portions of northern hemisphere; south, in 
winter, to New Jersey and the Great Lakes. 
162. S. spectabilis (Linn.). King Eider. 
Genus OIDEMIA Ftermine. (Page 86, pl. XXVIL,, figs. 1-4.) 
Species. 
Common CuHaractEers.—Adult males uniform black, with or without white 
speculum, and with or without white patches on head; bill brightly colored in life 
with tints of yellow, orange, or red, but partly black. Adult females plain brown- 
ish, lighter and more grayish beneath, the white head-markings of the male (if 
any) indistinctly indicated. 
a’, Length of commissure much less than inner toe, without claw; adult males 
entirely uniform black; bill of adult male much swollen on top at base; 
distance from anterior end of nostril to nearest feathers of forehead greater 
than distance from same point to tip of bill. (Subgenus Oidemia.) 
