136 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NATUEAL HISTORY OF ALASKA. 



lately barred with black and rich chestnut on rump and upper tail-coverts. Scapulars rather 

 lighter than back and with a narrow edging of brownish on each feather, the tips of the linear 

 interscapulars with silvery-gray. Wing rich, dark chestnut. The speculum bluish-black, edged 

 with white as a wider bar anteriorly and narrower posteriorly with the white bar. Breast and 

 sides rich, light reddish-brown, with a rounded dot of blackish brown on each feather. These 

 colors become blended on the breast and abdomen to produce a dark brownish-black on those 

 parts, and darkening posteriorly. The iris dark-brown, bill" dusky horn blue, feet dusky olive. 



On the western islands of the chain I have observed this duck to be quite plentiful about the 

 Nearer Islands during winter, and few were seen along the western end of Attu in July, 1880, 

 the natives asserting that it breeds sparingly on Agattu. 



158. Arctonetta fischeri (Brandt). Spectacled Eider. 

 This large Eider is common in the vicinity of Saint Michael's, where it arrives early in May. 

 Along the coast of Bristol Bay it is extremely abundant with others of this genus. 

 Its nesting habits are similar to that of the King Eider. 



This species occurs among all the Aleutian Islands, where it breeds and is a constant resident, 

 but extremely shy. 



161. Somateria v-nigra Gray. Pacific Mder. 



The Pacific Eider is to be found in all parts of Alaska that have come under my observation, 

 \\z : Norton Sound and coast south to Peninsula of Aliaska, and west to Attu of the Aleutian Islands, 

 and east to the entrance of Cook's Inlet and neighborhood of Kadiak. At Saint Michael's it is 

 common, arriving as soon as the sea-ice breaks in the spring. My earliest specimen was May 31, 

 1875. 



In Bristol Bay it is plentiful and extremely abundant in the neighborhood of Ugasik, where I 

 have seen thousands at a time on the bars left by the receding tides on the northeastern shores of 

 Aliaska. 



Among the Aleutian Islands it is a constant resident, the greater number being found in 

 winter. 



At Saint Michael's they breed in considerable numbers and there prefer the open timdra for a 

 nesting place. A nest was found with eleven eggs on the hillside about half a mile back of the 

 Kedoubt. The nest was made in a mossy situation, consisting of few blades of grass and well lined 

 with the sooty-colored down from the abdomeu of the bird itself. 



Along the Aleutian Islands the bird prefers the steep slopes heavily clothed with rank grasses, 

 such as wild rye (Elymtis), which grows in huge tussocks, among which the nest is hidden. A slight 

 depression is scratched out; the eggs are placed on the bare ground, the down being used only 

 as a cover for the eggs when the parent is absent from the nest. ' The eggs are never placed on 

 the down. 



The down is plucked from the breast for that purpose only, and increases in amount as the 

 increased complement of eggs demands a greater amount of covering. 



The nest when first scratched out is usually left to dry out several days before it is used, as the 

 bare spots were sometimes seen a week before an egg was deposited. With the first egg only a 

 small quantity of down was found in the nest, and will be replaced two or three times if removed. 

 When the nest is full of eggs and they, with all the down, are removed, the bird seeks some other 

 locality for again laying fewer eggs, generally not more than five for the second nest. Another 

 peculiarity that was brought to my notice by a native was that these birds usually seek some slope 

 where the Duck Hawk has its nest on the high point forming one end of the slope. This was true 

 in three instances that came under my observation. The Eiders were more numerous in such local- 

 ities than otherwise. The natives always are glad when the Hawk comes screaming overhead as 

 the canoe is being paddled along the shore, for they know the nest of the Hawk is near and 

 that many nests of the Eider will be found close by. The female Eider becomes very fat in the 

 breeding season. This may in a measure compensate for the loss of the down from her breast. 

 The skin on the breast also is thicker and, with the layer of fat, will be over half an inch in thick- 

 ness. The male Eiders are at this season very poor and lean. 



