58 
THE KING DUCK. 
Fuligula spectabilis, Linn . 
PLATE CCOCIV. — Male and Female. 
) 
This beautiful species rarely advances farther south along our eastern 
coast than the neighbourhood of. the Bay of Boston. I have, however, been 
assured by old and trustworthy gunners that the King Duck, about thirty 
years ago, was by no means of rare occurrence there during winter, and 
that a few had been known to breed in company with the Eider along the 
coast. At the period of my arrival at Labrador, the greater number of the 
King Ducks had proceeded farther north ; and although some were seen 
there, we found none of their nests. I can say nothing of the habits of this 
bird, which, although they may be similar to those of the Eider, must yet 
differ in many particulars, as is the case with all birds that are nearly allied 
in form. The eggs of the King Duck collected by Captain James Clark 
Ross, R. N., measure two inches and five-eighths by one inch and three- 
fourths, and have a smooth shell, of a uniform dull greenish-colour. 
Fuligula spectabilis, Bonap. Syn., p. 389. 
Somateria spectabilis, King Duck , Swains and’Rich. F.Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 447. 
King Duck, Fuligula spectabilis , Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 414. 
King Duck, Fuligula spectabilis , Aud. Oru. Biog., vol. iii. p. 523. 
Male, 25; wing, 11$. Female, 20; wing, 104. 
Rare in Massachusetts during winter. Breeds from Labrador to the 
Arctic Seas. 
Adult Male. 
Bill shorter than the head, much deeper than broad at the base, somewhat 
depressed towards the end, which is broad and rounded. Upper mandible 
with a soft tumid compressed substance at the base, extending perpendicu- 
larly upon the forehead, and by a medial band of feathers divided into two 
broad lobes, the dorsal line beyond this descending to the unguis, then 
slightly curved, the ridge broadly convex, the sides sloping and convex, the 
edges perpendicular, with about forty-five narrow internal lamellse, the 
unguis very large, broadly elliptical. Nostrils sub-medial, oblong, large, 
pervious, near the ridge. Lower mandible flattened, with the angle very 
