steller's eider. 355 



cuneate with 14 stiff, pointed feathers. Bill slightly higher than 

 broad at base, compressed and tapering towards tip (which is not 

 decurved) with a broad depressed and indistinctly denned nail ; 

 maxillary tomium convex basally and sinuated terminally, edges 

 of maxilla turned inwards against, and partially enclosing, lower 

 mandible. Feathers of head in male soft and silky, those on hinder- 

 crown slightly elongated to form a tuft. 



Soft parts. — Bill (ad. $) blue-grey, (ad. §) dusky-blue ; legs and 

 feet (ad. $) blue -grey, claws yellowish -grey, (ad. 9) dusky-olive ; 

 iris dark brown. 



Characters. — No subspecies. Adults distinguished by violet- 

 purple or sapphire -blue speculum bordered above and below with 

 white, and falcate innermost secondaries ; in all plumages shape of 

 bill (see structure) and absence of frontal angles are good diagnostic 

 characters. 



Breeding-habits. — Little definite recorded. Breeds in hollow in 

 moss and grass of tundra. Nest. — Sometimes concealed by over- 

 hanging grass of tussocks or deep cup in moss, well lined with- down, 

 which is dark sooty-brown. Eggs. — 6 to 9, pale greenish-grey. 

 Average size of 22 eggs, 61.4x41. Max. : 65x42.5. Min. : 55.5 X 

 40.5 and 62.5 X 38 mm. Breeding -season. — End June in Alaska but 

 early July on the Boganida. Incubation. — By female. Period not 

 ascertained. Single brooded. 



Food. — Almost entirely animal ; chiefly mollusca (Littorina, 

 Lacuna, Trophon, Margarita, Pleustes, Anonyx, Podocerus, Buccinum, 

 Mytilus, etc.), and Crustacea (Gammaridse, crabs, etc.). Millais also 

 includes fish-spawn, young fish, and possibly some vegetable matter. 



Distribution. — England. — Two. Nearly adult male Caistor (Nor- 

 folk) Feb. 10, 1830 (YarreU, Proc. Z. Soc, 1831, p. 35). Young 

 male off Filey Brigg (Yorks.) Aug. 15, 1845 (R. J. Bell, Zool, 

 1846, p. 1249). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Arctic and sub-arctic coasts of Northern 

 Hemisphere, breeding in arctic regions (erroneously stated to have 

 nested on Varanger Fjord, east of North Cape and at Petschenka, 

 but certain in east Siberia, east of Taimyr Peninsula, and Arctic 

 Ocean near Bering Sea east of Alaska) ; in winter sparingly in 

 various parts of northern Europe (Scandinavia, Heligoland, N.E. 

 Germany, Denmark, France), more numerous on coasts of Kamt- 

 schatka to Kurile Islands, Aleutian Islands and Greenland, once in 

 Quebec. 



Genus SOMATERIA Leach. 



Somateria Leach, Ross's Voy. Discovery Baffin's Land, etc., App. 

 p. xlviii (1819 — Type by subsequent designation of Gray 1840, S. mollissima). 



Lobe of hind-toe very wide (more than half length of toe). 

 Bill almost straight, about as long as head, high at base, nail 

 occupying whole width of tip of bill. Nostrils about in middle of 



