78 British Diving Ducks 
white on the hind neck (this varies much in individuals) ; a large dirty brownish-white 
patch below and in front of the eye, and smaller one over the ear, at the back of which there 
is generally a black spot ; sides of the head and neck dark brown ; chin greyish white 
spotted with brown ; rest of the plumage dark brown, with the upper parts darker, and all 
feathers edged with pale greyish-brown ; bill slightly swollen at the base on each side, 
blackish over the top and in front of the nostrils, but pale grey round the black quadrilateral 
patch on the sides. The nail is black with a narrow margin of bone colour ; the legs are of 
very different colour on the inside and the outside ; outside dull orange slightly suffused 
with olivaceous grey; inside dull rosy pink suffused with grey. Irides reddish-brown 
(Mr. Dresser gives the irides as greyish, but this is probably only correct for very old 
birds, and by no means usual). Size very slightly smaller than the male, and head not so 
large. * 
Breeding Range. 
North America. — Breeds in northern N. America "from Newfoundland west to 
Alaska," according to some American writers [but the only evidence of breeding in 
Newfoundland appears to be Reek's statement that it is especially common there " during 
the breeding season" (probably non-breeding birds)]. In Labrador Audubon found it 
breeding and took a nest, and it is common in summer in N.E. Labrador. Macfarlane 
states that it is a common species on the Arctic coasts, and breeds abundantly both there 
and on the Barrens along the Anderson River near Fort Anderson. It must also breed in 
Hudson Bay district. In Alaska it must breed in great numbers from the fact that vast 
flocks of males are to be met with off the coast in summer (E. W. Nelson, p. 81). Cf. also 
Macoun, Cat. Ca^tadian Birds, 2nd ed., p. 117 ; Check List A. O. U., last ed. ; Macfarlane, 
Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., xiv. p. 423. At Sitka it was found breeding by M. Bischoff, and 
also by Dall on the Yukon. Probably the main breeding grounds of this species lie on the 
"tundra " which borders the Arctic coast of Alaska south-west of Point Barrow, but I can 
find no record of nests being taken there by the Macllhenny expedition. 
In Greenland it is said to have been found breeding in Disko in June 1879 (female 
shot and young in down seen), but confirmation is required. Cf. Winge, Grdnland's 
Fugle, p. 93. 
Asia. — Apparently breeds in the Chukchi Peninsula. Cf. S. A. Buturlin, /. / O., 
1908, p. 288; Palm^n, Voyage of the Vega, &c. 
Migration Range. — In N. America it winters normally on the east side from the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence to S. Carolina, and occurs casually in Florida. It is very common on the 
coast of Nova Scotia, where I have killed specimens and seen large numbers. On the west 
side its winter range extends from the Aleutian Isles to Lower California. It is very 
abundant on the British Columbian coast, and I saw a few non-breeding birds there in 
summer. Casually it has been recorded from Greenland several times, and also twice from 
Bermudas (Wedderburn and Hurdis in 1854), and Jamaica (Gosse). Recorded from 
Kansas (A. L. Bennett, Auk, 1888, p. 203). 
Europe: British Isles. — Six specimens have been obtained in the Orkneys, nearly all 
in the vicinity of Stromness. One lived at Flotta with the Velvet-Scoters during the winter 
of 1886, but I failed to obtain it, and another frequented Stromness harbour in the winter 
