232 WATER FOWL. 



from four to six pounds. It seems to dislike stormy 

 days and rough water, although it must get plenty of 

 both during the year in the latitude it lives in, and at 

 such times assembles in numbers along the beach, or on 

 the rocks near the shore, or else swims about in the 

 sheltered bays and inlets, where the force of the wind is 

 not felt. The Eskimo name for the bird is Mi't hiik. 

 South of the mouth of the Yukon River the Pacific Eider 

 plays a very important part, says Nelson, in some of the 

 religious festivals of the natives, which occur in Decem- 

 ber. It is a kind of an Eskimo " harvest-home." 



SO MATERIA V-NIGRUM. 



Geographical Distribution. — Peninsula of Alaska, Aleutian 

 Islands, and islands of Behring Sea, and along the Alaskan 

 coast to the Arctic Ocean, and east to the Coppermine River. 

 Breeding throughout its range. 



Adult Male. — Plumage almost precisely like that of the two 

 previous species, except that on the throat there is a very long 

 V-shaped black mark, beginning on the chin and extending to a 

 line intersecting the occiput. Very much longer and somewhat 

 narrower than a similar mark on the King Eider. The black on 

 the head is bortiered beneath by pale sea green for nearly its 

 entire margin, like that of the American Eider. The bill is dif- 

 ferent from that of the other Eiders, being broader and deeper 

 through the base, while the frontal angles are much shorter and 

 very acute. The extension of the feathers forward underneath 

 the mandible (between the jaws) surpasses that on the sides, which 

 is rather the reverse in the other species; but this can hardly be 

 considered of specific value. The color of the bill is orange red 

 on frontal angles and base of culmen, grading to orange toward 

 the tip, which is yellowish white. Iris, dark brown. Legs and 

 feet, brownish orange. Bill, from tip to end of frontal angle, 

 i^^^ inches; greatest width of angle, J; culmen, i\. Total length, 

 about 22 inches; wing, ii^; culmen, 2 J. 



Adult Female. — Head, chin, throat, and neck, pale brown, 

 streaked with dusky; darkest on top of the head. Upper parts, 

 rufous, barred with black, the bars broadest on back and scapu- 



