THE KING-EIDER. 



Somateria spectabilis ( Linnaeus). ^ 

 Plate 50. 



This circumpolar species, whose breeding range extends through the arctic 

 regions of Europe, Asia, and America to Greenland, visits warmer seas in winter, 

 when it may be found off the coasts of Scandinavia and even in more southern 

 parts of Europe. 



The King-Eider is a rather rare visitor to the British Islands, four having been 

 obtained and two others seen on the east coast of England, and a fair number taken 

 or observed off the eastern shores of Scotland and in the seas surrounding the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, where its visits appears to be more frequent than elsewhere. 

 Some five specimens have been recorded in Ireland. 



The nest resembles that of our Common Eider, but, according to Millais, the 

 down from the female is of a darker colour. The eggs, generally from four to five 

 in number, do not differ from those of its congener in colour. Like our Eider it 

 also obtains its food at some depth under water, feeding chiefly on molluscs and 

 crustaceans. 



The late H. E. Dresser, in pointing out the difference between the females of this 

 species and the other, says {A Manual of PalcEarctic Birds, p. 633), " The female 

 differs from that of S. mollissima in being smaller, darker, and in having the 

 central line of feathers on the upper mandible extending quite down to the nostrils." 



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