1908.] 



BIRDS. 



293 



and had saved the specimen for me. Its occurrence was considered 

 very unusual. On my return I obtained a second specimen, which had 

 been killed near the post about June 30. Another, killed by a native 

 near Fort Providence in the spring, was obtained from Joseph Hodg- 

 son of that post. Another individual, a male, was observed on the 

 Mackenzie near Fort Providence, on June 21, by J. W. Mills. 



This is the common eider on the Arctic coast of Mackenzie, replac- 

 ing S. moUissima. according to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, as far 

 east at least as the mouth of the Coppermine." Richardson, on Au- 

 gust 11. 18-1:8, observed eider ducks, probably of this species, near 

 Cape Bathurst. They were assembled in immense flocks and were 

 migrating westward along the coast.^ Probably referring to the 

 present bird, Armstrong speaks of seeing many eiders, which he sup- 

 posed to belong to the common species, on Banks Land near Prince 

 Alfred Cape, August 19, 1851.^ MacFarlane found it breeding in 

 immense numbers on Franklin Bay, and also notes it as abundant on 

 Liverpool Bay.'^ 



Though essentially maritime, the Pacific eider has been taken in 

 the interior on a few occasions previous to our visits. Ross, in 1862, 

 sunnned \\\) the evidence relating to this point as follows : " A male 

 specimen of this very rare bird was shot by me at Fort Resolution in 

 1858, and a female was obtained by Mr. Alex. McKenzie in 1861 at 

 the same place.'' ^ 



A specimen collected at Fort Resolution hy McKenzie, probably the 

 one referred to by Ross, is still in the National Museum. 



Somateria spectabilis (Linn.). King Eider. 



This eider is rather common on the coast and islands of the Arctic 

 Sea, and our observations show that it migrates through the interior 

 in small numbers. On October 25, 1903, a few days after my arrival 

 at Fort Simpson, a flock of 4 was seen on the Mackenzie, and a female 

 was secured. The birds were quietly resting on the water and allow- 

 ing themselves to be carried down stream by the ice-laden current. 



In the summer of 1904, on my return trip, I obtained the skin of 

 an adidt male from James MacKinley, of Fort Resolution. It had 

 been killed by a native during the spring, somewhere on Great Slave 

 Lake to the eastward of that post, and was considered a great rarity. 

 These seem to be the first records of its occurrence in the interior of 

 this region. 



Sabine stated that the king eider was abundant on the North 

 Georgia Islands (referring more particularly to Melville Island), 



« Water Birds N. A., II, p. 81, 1884. 



^ Arctic Searching Expedition, I, p. 269, 1851. 



^ Narrative Discovery Northwest Passage, p. 391, 1857. 



^ Proc. V. S. Nat. Mus., XIV, p. 422, 1891. 



^Nat. Hist. Rev., II (second ser.), p. 288, 1862. 



