King-Eider 
41 
and Mitra groenlandica. Fabricius mentions the following species : Mytilus edulis,. 
Modiolaria Icevigata, M.faba, Saxicava, Leda minuta, Echinus, and corals. The specimen 
killed near Venice, according to Giglioli, had Carcimis mcenas in the stomach. 
At Discovery Bay, H. C. Hart found quantities of shrimps in the stomach of King- 
Eiders {Zool., 1880, p. 213), whilst Le Roi records remains of mollusca and small stones, 
stalks of GraminecE, and leaves of phanerograms (Avif. Spitzberg., p. 248). Svenander 
found the limb of a large crab. 
The female of this species makes a grunting cry as well as hiss when alarmed, but so 
far I can find no account of the cry of the male. 
Mr. Manniche tells us that the courtship and cooing note of the male is much the same 
as the Common Eider, the male rising slightly in front as it utters its gentle double note. 
At the breeding places both males and females appear to be very restless and somewhat 
quarrelsome, the males chasing and driving off any other ducks that come near. 
In their southern range a single pair of King-Eiders are often found nesting amongst. 
Eiders and other sea-birds, and this is also the case in S.W. Greenland, but both in N.E. 
and N.W. Greenland, Grinnell-land, and N. Asia, King-Eiders are found nesting in large- 
colonies by themselves. Manniche notes their arrival in pairs at the breeding places in N.E. 
Greenland on June 9, 10, and 16, and Von Middendorff saw them arrive in the Boganida on 
June 18, and the first pair on the Taimyr Peninsula on June 28, 74° N. lat. Soon after- 
wards large flocks came. On July 7 he found a nest with fresh eggs there, and at the- 
beginning of August he saw many females swimming about with young in down. Captain 
Feilden found them breeding on the Floeberg beach in 82° N. lat. in July. At this same 
date Bunge found young on the New Siberian Islands, whilst Macllhenny saw young, 
3 weeks old, on July 28, at Point Barrow, Alaska. 
Apparently these ducks arrive much earlier on the N. Alaskan coast than they do- 
in N. Asia, probably owing to the milder ice conditions, for an American living on the 
isolated island in Bering Straits reports a continuous procession of ducks — Eiders, King- 
Eiders, and Steller s Eiders — passing north in the month of April. 
Macllhenny, in his Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska, Wash., 1885, pp. 120-2, thus- 
describes the arrival of the King-Eiders : 
" This is by all means the most abundant bird at Point Barrow. Thousands hardly describes the- 
multitudes which passed up during the great migrations, within sight of the station, and yet equally great 
numbers passed us along the ' lead ' of open water several miles off shore. 
"They appear in the spring before there is any open water except the shifting 'leads' at a distance 
from the shore, and travel steadily and swiftly past Cape S my the to the north-east, following the coast.. 
Some flocks cross to the eastward below Point Barrow, but the majority follow the barrier of grounded ice 
past the point. It is probable, however, that they turn to the east after passing Point Barrow, because all 
the returning flocks in the autumn come from the east, hugging the shore of the mainland. 
"The first ducks in the spring of 1882 were seen on April 27, a comparatively warm day, with a. 
light southerly wind blowing. They were flying parallel to the coast over the barrier of grounded ice.. 
The natives said they were all ' Kingaling,' 'noisy birds,' or males (referring to the protuberance at the 
base of the bill), and the first flocks of the migration appear to be composed exclusively of males. 
" During the first half of May, 1882, several males came from the south off the land, and gained the- 
ice in a very exhausted condition, frequently so worn out that the natives caught them and killed them 
with sticks. They were all found to be very much emaciated, and their stomachs were empty of food. 
"The season was later in 1883, and no ducks were seen till May 5. There were six great flights in. 
VOL. II. F 
