434 Mr. E. Adams on the Birds of Michalaski. 
semicircular projection; line of the feathers sloping from this, 
behind the nostrils, to the rictus; no appearance of lobes : 
feet as in Somateria spectabilis ] iris sky-blue. 
The measurements of the male were as follows :—Expanse 
of wing 34"; total length 20" 8"'; bill above 11'", bill to rictus 
2" 3"'; tarsus 1" 10'", middle toe and nail 2" 9'", hind toe and 
nail 11"'j tail 2" 9'"; wing 9" 6"'. 
^ Black-throated Eider Duck. Somateria -? 
Mit-hok, Eski. 
[Somatey'ia v-nigrim, G. R. Gray, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 211, pi. 
107 ; Dali & Bann. p. 300.] 
The first of these birds I met with on the 10th of May; 
and soon after they became pretty numerous. They fre¬ 
quented all the marshes, but were generally flying about; 
they seldom alighted on a lake, coming straight in from the 
sea, generally along the river-course; they took a few turns 
about the marshes, and again w^ent out to sea. They soon 
fixed upon their breeding-places; and their nests were scat¬ 
tered over the uEole of the marshes. One nest was within 
thirty yards of the fort, in the midst of children and dogs ; 
the old one built her nest and laid four eggs before she was 
discovered. Yet they are very wary and difficult to approach. 
On the wing they fly in a straight line, and appear stupid, 
often flying within a few yards of the shooter. They are very 
swift on the wing, and carry off* a great quantity of shot. 
One pair, which I watched very particularly, built their 
nest in a swampy hollow between two small lakes, about 
twenty yards from one of them. It was placed in the midst 
of tall gass, and built of rushes and grass, and well lined with 
feathers and down. By the latter end of the month they had 
laid six eggs; and the female then began to sit. 
The male assisted in building the nest, but not in the pro¬ 
cess of incubation. M^hilst building they worked only very 
early in the morning; but when the female began to lay, both 
of them came in from seaward a little before noon, and after 
a few turns round, to see that all was right, both of them 
alighted in the lake. Here they remained some little time. 
