90 
The male birds at this season have a very characteristic call, resembling 
the syllables, how-who; the second note is strongly accentuated and long- 
drawn with a soft, almost dove-like quality. 
The first downy young of the season was seen at cape Dorset on 
July 13. On July 20 a small breeding colony was found on an island in 
one of the Aitken lakes northwest of the cape. Most of the nests still con- 
tained eggs, but a few held newly hatched young. No males were seen 
here. As early as July 17 the males were seen in large flocks in the sea, 
with among them a sprinkling of females who were probably first year, 
non-breeders, 
J. C. Ross (1826, p. 106) recorded “ Anas mollissima ” from port 
Bowen, where it arrived abundantly early in June, 1825. Kumlien (1879, 
pp. 89-92) records the species as one of the commonest in Cumberland 
sound as an abundant breeder. Several specimens were taken by Hantzsch 
(1914, p. 161) up to the beginning of September, 1909, at Blacklead island. 
Great numbers were seen by him in Cumberland sound during May, 1910. 
Evidently the species was not seen by him at Nettilling lake. Eider ducks, 
unidentified, were noted during October and up to November 6, 1910, 
in the open waters of Foxe basin. Skins and eggs were collected by the 
MacMillan expedition in the region of Bowdoin harbour in 1922. Munn 
(See Lloyd, 1922, p. 50) records them as common and breeding in Eclipse 
sound. Corporal Mclnnes records eider ducks, presumably this species, 
as early as May 5 at Ponds inlet. 
35. Somateria spectabilis (Linnaeus), king eider. 
Eskimo: Kingalalik; Kingalik, - lik , -lit, according to Hantzsch. 
This species is comparatively scarce in Cumberland Sound region. 
Until early October, 1924, only S. mollissima borealis was seen or collected. 
The first positively identified specimen of S. spectabilis was obtained on 
October 25, 1924, at Pangnirtung fiord. Several were handled after this 
date, but no examples of &. mollisswia borealis were secured. On Novem- 
ber 17, 1924, a flock of fifty or sixty eiders was seen in Pangnirtung fiord and 
presumed to be S. spectabilis. A specimen was shot on November 22 at 
a tide-rift. A flock of eight eiders was observed on January 25, 1925, 
at the big tide-rift near the entrance to Issortukdjuak fiord and they 
were supposed to be of this species. 
The first eiders observed in the spring of 1925 formed a flock of three 
or four hundred birds of this species and were seen on May 1, manoeuvr- 
ing about a tide-hole in Nettilling fiord. A large flock, thought to be of 
this species, was seen on May 18 flying northwest over Nettilling lake. 
Four king eiders, one male and three females, were shot from a flock of 
about seventy that visited Nettilling lake on June 21. No eiders were 
observed after this date in Nettilling Lake region until August 14, when 
one, which appeared to be of this species, was seen at Nettilling fiord. 
On the voyage about Nettilling lake to Koukjuak river in late August 
and early September, eider ducks, supposed to be this species, were seen 
a few at a time at frequent intervals. 
In the autumn of 1925, King eiders were collected as late as October 
27, at Pangnirtung fiord. A considerable number of these birds were 
observed along the floe-edge in mid-May, 1926, between Tikkoot islands 
and cape Dorset. Numbers occurred off the cape in early June. None 
