STELLER'S EIDER. 

 Somateria stelleri (Pallas). 

 Plate 51. 



Steller's Eider, another arctic species inhabiting the coasts of northern Siberia 

 and North America, wanders southwards in winter, when it often visits the shores 

 of Norway and the waters of the Baltic. It is a very rare visitant to the British 

 Islands, only two specimens having been recorded ; the first, an almost adult male, 

 obtained at Caistor, Norfolk, in February 1830, and a younger bird of the same 

 sex at Filey Brigg, in Yorkshire, in August 1845. 



This beautifully marked little Eider takes after the other members of the 

 genus in its habits. 



According to Von Middendorff, who found these ducks breeding in some 

 numbers on the Taimyr River in Siberia, as quoted by Dresser (Birds of 

 Europe), " this bird places its nest in the moss on the flat tundras ; it is cup- 

 shaped and well lined with down, the male remains in the neighbourhood of the 

 sitting female, who leaves the nest unwillingly, uttering a cry resembling that of 

 our common Teal, but harsher." 



It feeds chiefly on molluscs and Crustacea, obtained by diving in deep water. 



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