KING EIDER. 



SOMA TERIA SPECTA BILIS ( Linn.) . 



Anas spectabilis, Linn. S. N. i. p. 195 (1766) ; Naum. xii. 

 p. 285. 



Somateria spectabilis, Macg. v. p. 158; Hewitson, ii. p. 417; 

 Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 463; Dresser, vi. p. 613. 



Canard a tele grise, French ; Pracht-Ente, Konigs-Ente, 

 German. 



This handsome bird is a rare visitor to the British 

 Islands, and according to Mr. H. Saunders (4th ed. of 

 « Yarrell,' vol. iv.) many of the recorded captures and 

 observations of this species on various parts of our 

 coasts are more than doubtful. From the authority 

 just referred to I gather that a specimen in the Museum 

 at Boulogne is apparently the most southern of any 

 King Eider hitherto recorded in Europe. In Iceland it 

 is rare, it is an irregular visitant to the Faeroes, and 

 occurs on the northern coast of Norway every winter. 

 It is doubtful if it breeds on Spitsbergen, where it has 

 been observed ; but it does nest on Xovaya Zemlya, on 

 the Kanin Peninsula, on the Yalmal Peninsula, between 

 the Kara Sea and the Ob, and along the Arctic shores 



