708 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — LAMELLIBOSTBES— AN SERES. 
296. 
wings, to sooty brown, on the flanks to chestnut-brown. A white patch between bill and eye, 
curving upward and backward to margin the black coronal stripe, changing to chestnut from 
over eye to nape. A round white spot on side of hind-head ; a long white spot on side of 
upper neck ; a white collar around neck, interrupted or not before and behind ; a white 
crescent on side of breast in front of wings ) these marks black-bordered. A white spot on 
wing-coverts ; a white bar across ends of greater coverts and some of the secondaries ; outer 
webs of inner secondaries mostly white ; scapulars mostly white. A white spot on each side 
of root of tail. Speculum me- 
tallic purplish or violet. Two 
or three years appear to be 
required to perfect this plu- 
mage; the $ is found in almost 
every condition between this 
and the plumage of the 9 5 the 
final stage is the completion of 
the white ring around neck and 
white tips of secondaries. 9 ' 
Bill dusky ; feet dull bluish- 
gray. Iris brown. A whitish 
spot before eye and behind ear. 
General plumage on head and 
upper parts dark brown, dark- 
est on head and rump, the 
lower parts similar, more gray- 
ish, passing through gray mot- 
tling to whitish on belly. Thus 
the 9 is a very small and 
obscure duck, widely different 
from the ^ ; observe the small 
size, very sliort bill, only about 
1.00 along culm en, higher than 
wide at base ; plumage without 
definite markings excepting the 
twt) spots on each side of the 
head; extent of dappled gray 
and white on the under parts 
very variable. Lengtli of $ 
16.00-17.00; extent 24.00- 
27.00; wing 7.00-8.00; tail 
3.00-4.00; tarsus 1.30; bill 
along culmen 1.10, along gape 
1.50. Europe, Asia, N. Am., 
northerly and chiefly coastwise, but also in interior ; S. in winter to Middle States and Cala. ; 
breeds in K. Mts. of U. S., and northward, as from Newfoundland to Alaska. Nest in the 
hollow of a tree or stump, of weeds and grasses and parents' down; eggs 6-8, 2.10 X 1-60, 
greenish. The harlequins are in some places called lords and ladies." 
SOMATE'RTA. (Gr. aw/na, (roifxaros, soma, somatos, the body ; epiov, erion, wool, down.) 
Eiders. Bill varying in conformation with the species ; in one simple, much as in Histrio- 
nicus for example, without special gibbosity or peculiar outline of feathers ; m tlie rest 
variously tumid or gibbous, with very various dispositions of frontal processes and outlines of 
Fig. 493. — Bills of Eiders, ^ nat, size, viewed from above and in profile. 
1, 5. mollissima; 2, S. m. dresseri. (From Sliarpe.) 
