34 British Diving Ducks 
young King-Eider can be distinguished by the form of the bill and the down-covered 
portions near this part ; bill and feet lead colour. 
Immature Male: First Year. — The young male in first plumage is easily distinguished 
from the young female, as well as from Common Eider of a similar age, by the shape of the 
head and bill, which show some resemblance to the form of the adult male, even at 3 
months. The plumage of a young male killed at the end of October, aged nearly 4 months, 
near Stromness, in the Orkneys, and now in my possession, is as follows : 
The new first winter crown and cheeks have already been acquired. These parts are 
grey beneath, crossed with black, and edged with russet-brown. Chin and throat white 
with pale brown markings on the upper and dark-brown ends on the lower throat. Mantle 
and scapulars and upper wing dark brown with pale sandy edges ; secondaries dark brown, 
edged with a rich vandyke brown (a colour not seen in the Common Eider) and tipped with 
sandy-yellow ; primaries very dark brown ; tail-coverts and thighs each red-brown, barred 
with black ; tail brown with a greyish suffusion ; upper breast pale sandy-yellow barred with 
light brown ; under parts brown-grey with faint sandy vermiculations, flanks grey with 
brown bars and sandy-grey edges. A few black feathers are appearing on the lower flanks. 
In first plumage in early September the crown and cheeks of a Greenland bird before me 
resemble the young male of the Common Eider, except that the dark spots are smaller and 
the swelling of the bill not so pronounced as in November males. The progress of plumage 
of the young male King-Eider seems to be identical with that of the Common Eider. The 
first winter plumage continues to come in and displace the first plumage as the season 
advances. Thus a typical young male in this collection, aged nearly 9 months, and killed at 
Holstenborg, Greenland, on March 22, 1910, has the plumage as follows : crown as in early 
November ; cheeks brownish-black with small rich brown edge ; lower neck darker than in 
October, forming into a black ring above the upper chest which is now cream with black 
edges. Under parts as in October but with a few more black feathers on the flanks ; some 
new feathers have been acquired in the tail, and the scapulars and upper mantle are now 
black ; other parts as before. The bill now begins to swell and broaden at the upper angles. 
As can be seen by reference to Plate I. (breasts). Figs. 9 and 10, there is the same 
difference in the assumption of the plumage as in the case of Common Eider. Here are shown 
two birds both of the same age. No. 9 being very backward and No. 10 very precocious. In 
fact the latter has the form and size of an adult, and has assumed the broad V on the 
throat, and black tail-coverts, whilst the scapulars and rest of the plumage, except the head 
and neck, which are far advanced, are still in the first plumage. The tail is new and com- 
plete in this specimen. From this date (early April) until the first eclipse commences, there 
is no further advance in the plumage of the young male, consequently we see as in Figs. 1 1 
and 12 on the same plate, immature males killed in May and June less forward than No. 10 
killed on April 5. 
The first eclipse commences to come in at the end of June when the bird is one year old. 
Immature Male: Second Year. — The first eclipse follows exactly the same course as 
the first eclipse plumage of the Common Eider. Those portions of the plumage which were 
renewed twice between July i and November i are somewhat smaller in their markings but 
of much the same colour as the Common Eider. The wings, tail, lower scapulars, flanks, 
under parts, and upper and lower tail-coverts, which are only renewed once early in August, 
