THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
STELLER’S EIDER 
HENICONETTA STELLERl 
(Plate XXIX, Fig. 6) 
Fuligula dispar, Gould, Birds Europe, v, pi. 372 (1837). 
Eniconetta stelleri, Gould, Birds Gt. Brit., v, pi. 25 (1863). 
Somateria stelleri, Dresser, Birds Europe, vi, p. 649, pi. 447 (1871) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. 
Birds, part xxxi, pi. (1895) ; Saunders, III. Man. Brit. Birds, p. 463 (1899). 
Heniconetta stelleri, Salvador!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxvii, p. 419 (1895). 
"^1^ DULT male. — Head and upper part of neck satiny-white; lores 
and occipital tuft dark olive -green; feathers round the 
/ eye and a spot at each end of the occipital tuft black; 
f chin, throat and lower part of neck purplish -black: 
i the throat being nearly separated from the neck by 
an imperfect white collar; mantle, back, rump and 
upper tail -coverts black with a purplish gloss; chest, breast and flanks 
pale cinnamon -brown, shading into blackish -brown on the middle of the 
breast and belly, paler on the flanks, the longer feathers being nearly 
white; a black spot on each side of the breast, scapulars and curled inner 
secondaries, with the inner web white and the outer web metallic purplish - 
black; outer secondaries very similar, but less glossy and tipped with 
white; primary-quills brownish -black; lesser and median wing-coverts 
white; under wing -coverts and axillaries white. Iris dark brown; bill 
lead colour, horny -white at the tip ; feet and toes dark lead -colour ; webs 
blackish -grey. Total length about 19 inches; bill 1*5 inch; wing 8*5 
inches; tail 3*5 inches; tarsus 1*5 inch. 
Adult male in eclipse-plumage . — Has not been examined. 
Adult female . — General colour very dark brown, barred with rufous on 
the head, neck and mantle, and with deep chestnut on the chest; rest of 
the upperparts nearly black, with indistinct rufous bars on the lower 
back; breast and rest of underparts uniform shining brownish -black, 
inclining to dull reddish-brown on the sides and flanks; long curled inner 
secondaries metallic purplish -black on the outer web, smoky-brown on 
the inner web, and whitish down the middle; rest of the secondaries 
metallic -purple on the outer web and widely tipped with white, forming 
a distinct purple speculum widely bordered with white, the interior one 
formed by the tips of the greater secondary-coverts; inner under wing- 
coverts and axillaries pure white. Total length about 19 inches; bill 1*5 
inch ; wing 8 *5 inches ; tail 3 *5 inches; tarsus 1 *5 inch. 
354 
