AMERICAN SCOTER. 59 



Labrador, latitude 59°; Southampton Island, Hudson Bay, latitude 

 63°; west along- the Arctic coast to Icy Cape and Point Barrow, to St. 

 Lawrence Island in Bering Sea, and on the whole coast of northern 

 Siberia. It seems to be rather rare in northeastern Europe. It is 

 abundant on the arctic islands north at least to Melville Island, lati- 

 tude 76°, and to the same latitude in Wellington Channel. 



Winter range. — This species winters as far north as open water can 

 be found, at least to southern Greenland. It is common during the 

 winter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, whence a few stray each winter 

 to Long Island Sound and the New Jersey coast; casual at Cape 

 Charles, Va., January 2, 1897; Ossabaw Island, Georgia, December 1, 

 1904; St. Catherine Island, Georgia, December 3, 1904; Brunswick, 

 Ga., April 25 and May 5, 1890. 



The species has been noted occasionally in the interior on Lakes 

 Cayuga, Oneida, Ontario, Erie, and Michigan. The Pacific birds win- 

 ter abundantly in the Aleutians, south to the Shumagin and Kadiak 

 islands; accidental near San Francisco, winter of 1879. 



Spring migration. — Even as far north as Greenland migratory 

 movements of the king eider are noticed in early February; the first 

 arrival was noted at Igloolik, latitude 69°, April 16, 1823; Wellington 

 Channel, latitude 76°, June 9, 1851; vicinity of Fort Conger, latitude 

 82°, June 12, 1872; June 16, 1882; June 11, 1883. The Pacific birds 

 arrived at Point Barrow, latitude 71°, April 27, 1882, and May 5, 

 1883; eggs, Floeberg Beach, latitude 82° 30', July 9, 1876. The last 

 breeding birds desert southern Greenland late in April, though non- 

 breeders are not rare through the summer, and it is probably the 

 presence of these that has given rise to reports that the species breeds 

 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; late birds have been recorded on the 

 Massachusetts coast April 5, 1890; April 10, 1893; April 12, 1894; on 

 Long Island April 21, 1887, and, as already noted, at Brunswick, Ga., 

 May 5, 1890. 



Fall migration. — This eider wanders south in late fall, the average 

 date when it arrives on the coast of Massachusetts and Long Island 

 being November 14 (earliest, October 21, 1899); it was noted on Lake 

 Erie November 13, 1894, and at Calgary, Alberta, November 4, 1894. 

 The height of the fall migration at Point Barrow is during September 

 and October, and in 1882 the last one was seen there December 2, off 

 St. Michael October 12, 1879, and at Fort Simpson, Mackenzie, 

 October 25, 1903. 



Oidemia americana S\v. & Rich. American Scoter. 



Breeding range. — The lack of information in regard to the breeding 

 of this species in northeastern North America is surprising. The 

 species was described from the west shore of Hudson Bay, and occurs 

 on the coasts of Labrador and the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but there 



