This species differs from the preceding only in the fleshy part of the base of the bill, which extends back on each side of the forehead, it being broad and rounded in this species and narrow and pointed in the Northern or Greenland Eider. This species, but more especially the Northern Eider, are the ones chiefly used for the eider-down of commerce. The preceding species is often semi-domesticated in Greenland, the people protecting them and encouraging them to nest in the neighborhood. They make their nests of seaweed and grass and warmly line it with down from their breast; this down is continually added to the nest during incubation until there is a considerable amount in each nest, averaging about an ounce in weight. The birds are among the strongest of the sea ducks and get their food in very deep water. Their flesh is not good eating. Their eggs number from five to ten and are greenish drab. Size 3. × 2. 161. PACIFIC EIDER. _Somateria v-nigra._ Range.--North Pacific from the Aleutian Islands northward, and east to Great Slave Lake. This bird is, in plumage, like the Northern Eider, except that it has a black V-shaped mark on the throat. They nest sparingly on the Aleutian Islands, but in great numbers farther north on the coast about Point Barrow. Their habits, nests and eggs are precisely the same as those of the eastern forms. Their eggs number from five to ten and are of olive greenish color. Size 3. × 2. Data.--Cape Smythe, Alaska, June 8, 1900. Eight eggs. Nest a hollow in the moss, lined with grass and down. [Illustration 105: Greenish drab.] [Illustration: Eider. Pacific Eider.] [Illustration: right hand margin.] Page 104 162. KING EIDER. _Somateria spectabilis._ Range.--Northern Hemisphere, breeding in America from Labrador to Greenland and the Arctic Ocean; south in winter to the New England States and rarely farther on the eastern side, and to the Aleutians on the Pacific; also casually to the Great Lakes in the interior. A handsome and very different species from any of the foregoing, having the crown ashy blue, and the long scapulars black instead of white. It also has a broad V-shaped mark on the throat. Like all the other Eiders, the female is mottled brown and black, the different species being very difficult to separate. The nests are sunk in the ground and lined with down. Eggs number from six to ten. Size 2.80 × 1.80. Data.--Point Barrow, Alaska, July 5, 1898. Five eggs. Nest a hollow in the moss on tundra lined with moss and down. Collector, E. A. McIlhenny. 163. SCOTER. _Oidemia americana._ Range.--Northern North America, breeding from Labrador, the Hudson Bay region and the Aleutian Islands northward; winters south to Virginia, the Great Lakes and California.