192 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



King Eider 



Somateria spectabilis (Linnaeus) 



Description — Adult male: Top of head uniform pearl gray, slightly deeper 

 toned on hind neek; border along swollen base of upper mandible glossy black; 

 iris "bright yellow"; bill "flesh-coloured," sides of upper mandible and swell- 

 ings on each side of forehead "bright yellow" (Audubon, 1843, VI, p. 348); 

 cheeks pale sea-green; eyelid, small spot under eye, and V-shaped forward- 

 pointing mark on throat, black; rest of head, neck, upper back and fore breast 

 creamy white, the last named area tinged with buff; lower back, scapulars, and 

 sides and under surface of body black; large patch on each side of rump 

 white; wings and tail blackish brown; large patch on forepart of outer sur- 

 face of closed wing white; feet "dull orange," webs "dusky," claws "brown- 

 ish-black" (Audubon, loc. cit.). Total length 22.25-24.00 inches (565-609 mm.) 

 (ten specimens in Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia); folded wing 11.15 (283); 

 bill along culmen 1.40 (35.6); tarsus 1.77 (44.9) (one specimen from Alaska). 

 Adult female: Whole head and neck, cinnamon buff, finely streaked with black, 

 most thickly on top of head; iris "dull yellow"; bill "pale gi-eenish-grey " 

 (Audubon, loc. cit.); back brownish black, with conspicuous feather edgings 

 and tippings of oehraceous tawny and cinnamon buff; rump, cinnamon buff 

 with U-shaped markings of black; outer surface of closed wing brownish black, 

 with conspicuous feather edgings and tippings of oehraceous tawny and cinna- 

 mon buff; flight feathers and speculum blackish brown, the latter outlined in 

 front and behind with bars of white; tertials broadly edged on outer margins 

 with cinnamon; axillars and part of lining of wing, white; rest of under sur- 

 face of wing, brown; breast and sides and under tail coverts, cinnamon buff, 

 with U-shaped markings of black; belly, sepia brown; feet "dull ochre" 

 (Audubon, loc. cit.). Total length 20.75-22.25 inches (527-565 mm.) (six 

 specimens); wing 10.75 (273); culmen 1.25 (31.7); tarsus 1.75 (44.4) (one 

 specimen); all in Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, from Alaska. Juvenile plumage: 

 Somewhat like that of adult female, but with head and neck pale gray dully 

 streaked, axillars and area on lining of wing grayish white, and rump and 

 whole lower surface obscurely barred with blackish brown and dull buff, the 

 pattern finest on belly. Natal plumage: Whole upper surface, leaden brown; 

 lower surface, a paler tone of same color, lightest (almost white) on lower 

 breast and belly. 



Marks foe field identification — Large stout body (resembling Scoters) ; 

 male with chiefly whitish foreparts, the rest of body black, with white areas on 

 wing and side of rump. Female with no white whatever, brown-toned, finely 

 streaked on head and barred elsewhere. 



Voice— (?) 



Nest — On ground among rocks or shrubs, usually close to salt water; com- 

 posed wholly of down. 



Eggs — 6 to 10, elongate ovate in shape, measuring in inches 2.77 to 3.08 by 

 1.88 to 2.07 (in millimeters, 70.3 to 78. 3 by 47.7 to 52.5), and averaging 2.94 

 by 1.95 (74.6 by 49.6) ; color light olive gray to grayish green (one set, six 

 eggs, in Mus. Vert. Zool.). 



General distribution — Northern part of Northern Hemisphere. In North 

 America, breeds along Arctic coast from Icy Cape east to Melville Island, 

 Wellington Channel, northern Greenland, northwestern Hudson Bay, and north- 

 ern Ungava. Winters on Pacific coast from Aleutian Islands to Kodiak Island, 



