THE KING-EIDER. 363 



Azores. Keplaced by closely-allied forms in North America, Green- 

 land, Faeroes, Spitsbergen, and north-east Asia.* 



[Note. — An Eider shot at Graemsay (Orkneys) Dec. 14, 1904, and said to 

 have been a Pacific Eider, Somateria mollissima v-nigrum Gray {Bull. B.O.C., 

 xv, p. 32 : Zool., 1905, pp. 74, 142, 143 : Ann. S.N.H., 1905, p. 183), was sub- 

 sequently proved to be a variety of the Common Eider, Somateria m. mollissima 

 (cf. Butt. B.O.C.,n:iK,p. 80 : Brit. B., i, pp. 15,69, 125, 158.] 



SOMATERIA SPECTABILIS 



321. Somateria spectabilis (L.)— THE KING-EIDER. 



Anas spectabilis Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 123 (1758 — Canada, 



Sweden). 



Somateria spectabilis (Linnseus), Yarrell, iv, p. 463 : Saunders, p. 461. 



Description. — Adult male. Winter and summer. — Feathers border- 

 ing upper mandible, frontal feathering, eyelids, patch below and 

 behind eye and broad V-shaped mark on throat black ; fore -head 

 and crown pearl-grey deepening to gull-grey on nape and upper- 

 part of sides of neck, sometimes bordered on nape by dark slate 

 line ; white eye -stripe continued on to side of neck (sometimes 

 obsolete) ; patch of emerald-green on cheeks narrowing to streak 

 behind eye ; lower-nape, centre of upper-mantle, chin, and throat 

 white, lower-mantle same but feathers with ash-brown bases often 

 imperfectly concealed ; sides of upper-mantle and upper-breast 

 vinaceous-butf or pink-buff, feathers bordering lower-breast more 

 or less tipped black ; scapulars, back, centre of rump and upper 

 tail-coverts dull black ; large patch on side of rump white, some 

 feathers tipped black ; lower-breast, belly and vent brown-black, 

 feathers with ill-concealed drab-brown bases ; rest of under-parts 

 black ; axillaries white ; under wing- coverts mostly white ; tail- 

 feathers sepia ; primaries and their coverts and bastard-wing 

 brown- black shading to drab -brown on inner webs ; secondaries 

 with outer webs black, inner webs sepia, outer ones narrowly tipped 

 white, innermost with light brown shaft-streak ; greater coverts 

 as secondaries, in some with small white spot at tip ; median and 

 lower lesser coverts white, some narrowly tipped blackish ; rest of 

 wing-coverts including innermost median, brown-black or sepia, 

 latter and some lesser tipped white ; amount of white on wings 

 variable, in some coverts at edge and bend of wing and most lesser 

 coverts white. This plumage is acquired by a body-moult Sept. to 

 Jan. N.B. — When fresh, feathers of upper-mantle and upper-breast 

 have blackish edges. 



Adult male. Eclipse. — Moult apparently identical with that 

 of 8. m. mollissima takes place July and Aug. and coloration almost 

 identical but scapulars uniform brown-black without any white 

 markings ; lores and cheeks lighter than in 8. m. mollissima, feathers 



* Judging from material in British collections the supposed differences of 

 the Norwegian form are by no means constant. — E.H. 



