﻿ANATID/E. 135 



NA TA TORES. ANA TID/E. 



PLATE CCLVIII 



KING EIDER. 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS. 



The King Eider is not found nearer to us than the Ork- 

 neys, and is consequently a still more northern species than 

 the foregoing. In Europe, this species is by far less numer- 

 ous than the Eider Duck ; it inhabits the most northern 

 countries ; but in the northern parts of Asia and America it 

 is principally at home. On the icy sea of Siberia, and 

 in Kamtschatka it is plentifully distributed. In the upper 

 parts of Hudson's Bay and Labrador it is frequent, and ranges 

 from thence southward in winter as far as New York. In 

 Greenland it is very common, and equally so in Spitzbergen 

 and Norway. During severe winter weather, this species 

 migrates to Denmark and Sweden, but not unfrequently 

 remains throughout that season in its native country. 



Like the Eider Duck, the present species frequents the 

 ocean ; also bays, inlets, and the mouths of rivers where the 

 salt water predominates ; and its habits are in every respect 

 the same as the foregoing, with the exception of its remaining 

 more northward throughout the year; during the breeding- 

 season, the localities frequented by the King Eider are un- 



