“ This species has several times been noticed ; — by Professor Loven, in Ice Sound, in 1837 ; by Professor 
Snndevall, in Bell Sound, the following- year ; and by Professor Nordenskjold, who killed two examples on 
the south-east coast in 1858 ; but it is certainly not of common occurrence there, as most writers have 
asserted. I very much question if it breeds in the country ; and it has not been met with further north than 
Ice Sound, lat, 76" N., where last year I believe I saw a young drake flying on the 22nd of July ; and Ludwig, 
the same day, was in unsuccessful pursuit of three birds which were, I suspect, of this species. Dr. Malm- 
gren, however, showed me one which vvas shot out of a small flock at the heginning of the month, in Safe 
Haven. Another little flock was also observed by him in August, on the Horn-Sound Islands ; but in the 
south-east harbour of Bear Island, on the 18th— 19th of June, he saw a very large flock, consisting of 
hundreds of ducks and young drakes, with only one or two old drakes among them. They do not appear to 
breed there.” 
From the late Mr. Wheelwright’s ‘ Spring and Summer in Lapland,’ we learn that the King Duck is only 
occasionally seen in Lapland ; and from Mr. Newton’s ‘ Notes on the Birds of Iceland,’ that it is by all 
accounts a rare bird in that country, and that those which occur there are generally only stragglers from 
Greeidand and elsewhere. 
In Mr. H. E. Dresser’s Translation of Pastor Sommerfeldt’s ‘List of Birds noticed in East Finmark,’ 
it is stated that the King Duck is not a common bird, though it has been said to have been found in 
numbers in the Varanger Fjord in October. It is true enough that in October and November the Eider 
Ducks collect in large flocks and fly about over the Fjord and the surrounding country in the afternoon 
and the dusk of the evening ; hut in these flocks the Eider constitutes the chief poi'tion. Steller’s Duck 
is also found in large numbers, but the King Duck only singly in proportion to the other species. 
In Mr. Henry Reeks’s ‘ Notes on the Zoology of Newfoundland,’ it is stated that “ the King-Eider, 
which is there called ‘ King-bird ’ is tolerably common during its periodical migrations, and is frequently 
shot in company with the Eider. On the l7th of December, 1867, I obtained an adult male, and on the 
19th an Immature bird of the same sex ; the latter was one of two killed at a shot, with eight of the Eider. 
King Ducks are more abundant at some seasons than others : in 1865 twenty of these birds w'ere killed at 
a double shot hy one of the settlers at Cow-Head. Young males resemble the females during their first 
year, but in the second have the throat and neck copiously spotted wuth white. The adult female is easily 
distinguished from the female of S. mollissima by its much smaller size, its shorter hill, and by having a more 
decided rufous tinge on the upper plumage.” — Zoologhty 1869, p. 1759. 
Although several examples of the King Duck have undoubtedly been killed on the shores of the British 
Islands, all the recorded instances are not to be relied on. Messrs. Paget, on the authority of the late 
Mr. Samuel Wigg, state that a female was shot on Breydon Broad, near Yarmouth, in July 1813 ; and the Rev. 
L. Jenyns mentions one as having been killed at Aldhorough, in Suffolk. More recently, two instances of its 
occurrence at Lowestoft have been recorded ; but Mr. Stevenson is not inclined to give credence to this 
statement. It is said that it formerly bred on Papa Westra, one of the Orkneys ; but the late Mr. R. Dunn 
sought for it there in vain. The late Mr. Thompson, after saying that it is extremely rare in Ireland, 
mentions the occurrence of a female, shot at Kingstown Harbour in October 1837 ; two on the coast of 
Kerry, one in the winter of 1843, at Derrynane, the other in that of 1845-6, at Tralee Bay ; and a fourth 
which was shot on the 11th of March 1853, while swimming alone in Belfast Bay. This bird, which came 
under Mr. Thompson’s examination on the 12th, weighed 3 lbs. 5 oz.; the hill was dusky, having the colour 
and appearance of india-rubber as sold hy the stationers ; tarsi and toes very pale olive or dull fawn-colour ; 
the membranes dusky ; irides very dark brown. On dissection it proved to be a female ; the stomach was 
filled w'ith the remains of Crustacea and mollusca, viz. an Inachus of middle size, the largest Portums arcti- 
atus he had seen (and perfect, excepting the arms), a Nucula margaritacea, and a small Buccimim undatum. 
“ The preceding notes,” adds Mr. Thompson, “ relate to more King-Eiders than are on record as obtained 
in Great Britain south of the Orkney Islands, at least until 1845.” — Nat. Hist, of Ireland, vol. iii. p. 116. 
I am especially indebted to my friend Dr. Rae, the celebrated Arctic traveller, for a drawing made hy him, 
at my request, of the proportions and colouring of the bill and surrounding soft parts of the male, and which 
he kindly transmitted to me soon after his return from one of his journeys in search of the lamented 
Franklin ; the colouring of this ornamental part of the bird may therefore he regarded as strictly accurate. 
I believe that two, three, or more years ela]>se before the protuberance above the bill assumes the form and 
colouring represented ; for in some examples I have seen it was hut little developed, wdiile in others it 
was about midway in size ; and I suspect that it is only In the breeding-season that it is so large and so 
highly coloured as it is depicted in my Plate. 
The front figures represent fully adult examples of the two sexes, somewhat under the natural size. 
