THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
COMMON EIDER 
so MATERIA MOLLISSIMA 
(Plate XXIX, Fig. 4) 
Somateria mollissima, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 374 (1837) ; Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, 
p. 629, pi. 445 (1871) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. Birds, part xxii, pi. (1892) ; Salvadori, Cat. 
Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 425 (1895) ; Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 459 (1899). 
"^1^ DULT male. — ^Upper part of the head velvety-black, a line of 
greenish -white dividing the middle of the crown from 
/ ^ the eye to the nape; nape and hinder -parts of the head 
i ^ sea-green; cheeks, rest of head, neck, back, scapulars, 
J and long falcate innermost secondaries white; middle 
of the lower back, rump, upper tail-coverts and tail 
black; chest pale vinaceous- white; rest of the underparts black; primary 
and secondary quills black, the innermost primaries and their coverts 
tipped with white; secondary coverts mostly white tipped with black; 
under wing -coverts and axillaries white. Iris brown; bill dull olive -green, 
almost olive in old birds, nail brownish -white; feet light olive-green, 
claws brownish -black. Total length about 24 inches; bill 2 *2 inches; 
wing 11*5 inches; tail 4*0 inches; tarsus 2*0 inches. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage . — Resembles the immature male about the 
head, neck and chest, which are brown spotted with black; but in the 
rest of the plumage of the back a good deal of the white is retained, in- 
cluding the long falcate inner secondaries; the breast and rest of the 
underparts remain black and unchanged. 
Adult female . — General plumage pale rufous -brown, the head and neck with 
narrow streaks of black, darkest on the crown; upper chest and breast 
banded with black and rufous -brown, almost uniform brownish -black 
on the lower breast and belly, the black bands on the back being broader; 
greater secondary coverts and secondaries dark brown tipped with white, 
forming two white alar bars; under wing -coverts brownish; axillaries 
white, somewhat mottled with greyish. Total length about 23 inches; 
bill 2 *2 inches; wing 11*0 inches; tail 3 *8 inches; tarsus 2*0 inches. 
General distribution . — ^The eider duck inhabits the northern parts of Europe 
and Western Asia, and has been met with as far east as the Taimyr 
Peninsula. Its breeding-range includes the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Jan 
Mayen, Spitzbergen, Franz Josef Land and Novaya Zemlia; also Norway 
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