CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. IO3 



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 leave 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 1 8th, 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 en- 

 tirely concealed by overhanging grasses, and was revealed only 

 by the bird flying out at his feet. The nest contained a single 

 egg. (Nelson.) 



MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 



One specimen shot on Kadiak Island, on the Alaskan coast, 

 September, 1894. 



LX. 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 Behring Sea coast of 

 Alaska. My own observations show this species to be strictly 

 limited to the salt-marshes bordering the east coast of Behring 

 Sea, thus favoring the shallow, muddy, coast waters, which 

 appear to be distasteful to Steller's Duck. {Nelson.) This bird is 

 common in the vicinity of St Michael, where it arrives early in 

 May. Along the coast of Bristol Bay it is very abundant ; 

 it occurs among all the Aleutian Islands, where it breeds and is 

 a constant resident, but extremely shy. {Turner.) This bird was 

 found to be a regular, though rather rare, summer visitor at Point 

 Barrow. It evidently breeds not far from the station, as a female 

 was taken in June, 1883, with an egg in the oviduct just ready for 

 laying. {Murdoch. 



Breeding Notes. — In the vicinity of St. Michael this species 

 rarely arrives before the 15th of May. Very soon after reaching 



