194 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



Franklin Bay on the Arctic coast. The nest was a mere depression in 

 the ground fifty yards from the beach and composed entirely of down. 



It [the King Eider] is a deep water duck and feeds mostly on mussels 

 which it is able to procure, it is said, in water upward of 150 feet in depth, 

 and occasionally is caught like the Old-squaw in the deep water gill nets of 

 the lake fishermen. In the breeding season the males go into the "eclipse" 

 plumage and flock together on the open sea. The female lines her nest with 

 down as do the other species of eider, thus furnishing the famous eider down 

 of commerce, which is gathered by the natives of Iceland, Greenland and 

 Norway. This is taken chiefly from the Greenland and European eiders, each 

 nest yielding about five ounces of down in a season (Eaton, 1910, p. 220). 



The King Eider even in the far north is of little value as a game 

 bird, so its extreme rarity within our state is of small consequence to 

 hunters. Occurrences as far south as California are of interest chiefly 

 because they are out of the ordinary. No economic importance can 

 be ascribed to a bird of such rarity. 



American Scoter 



Oidemia americana Swainson 



Other name — ^Black Scoter. 



Description — Adult male: Entire plumage glossy black; wing and tail 

 feathers becoming sooty brown with wear; swollen base of upper mandible to 

 front of nostrils "bright orange," rest of bill black; iris "brown" (Audubon, 

 1843, VI, p. 345); legs and feet dull black. Total length (both sexes) "17.00- 

 21.50" inches (432-545 mm.) (Bidgway, 1900, p. Ill); folded wing 9.20 (233); 

 bill along culmen 1.65 (41.8); tarsus 1.77 (44.9) (one specimen from Alaska). 

 AduU female: Top and back of head, hind neck, and upper surface of body, 

 dark brown, darkest on top of head and on tips of primary wing feathers; 

 bill black; sides of head and neck and whole lower surface of body, mottled 

 light brown and grayish white, lightest on head and neck and darkest on 

 chest and under tail coverts, this pattern produced by feathers being brown 

 at base with tips broadly dull white. Total length 18.75 inches (476 mm.) 

 (one specimen); folded wing 8.30-8.87 (211-225); bill along culmen 1.60-1.62 

 (40.6-41.2); tarsus 1.64-1.68 (41.7-42.7) (two specimens, one from California). 

 Juvenile plumage: "Upper parts, jugulum [=foreneck], sides, and flanks, 

 uniform dark grayish brown; sides of head and neck, chin and throat, dirty 

 whitish, tinged with brownish gray, quite abruptly defined against the dark 

 brown of the pileum and nape [^=top of head and back of neck] ; abdomen 

 whitish, each feather marked with a dusky grayish brown bar just beneath 

 the surface, some of these bars exposed; anal region and orissum [=under 

 tail coverts] grayish brown, the feathers tipped with white. Bill and feet 

 black" (Baird, Brewer and Eidgway, 1884, II, p. 89). Natal plumage: "Upper 

 parts and breast dark brown; lower parts, lighter brown; throat, white" 

 (Sanford, Bishop and Van Dyke, 1903, p. 175). 



Marks for tield lUENTiriCATiON — For Scoters in general: Large size and 

 black or very dark coloration. For American Scoter: Male wholly black, and 

 bill black with orange-colored base; female very dark brown above, without 



