“ This species has several times been noticed by Professor Loveii, in Ice Sound, in 1837; by Professor
Sundevall, 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 beeu met with further north than
Ice Sound, lat, 76° N., where last year I helieve I saw a young drake flying on the 22nd of Ju ly ; and Ludwig,
the same day, was in unsuccessful pursuit of three birds which were, I suspect, of this species. I)r. Malm-
gren, however, showed me one which was shot out o f a small flock at the beginning o f 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 o f 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
Greenland and elsewhere.
In Mr. H. E. Dresser’s Translation o f Pastor Sommerfeldt’s ‘ List of Birds noticed in East Fimnark,’
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 surrouuding country in the afternoon
and the dusk o f the evening; but in these flocks the Eider constitutes the chief portion. 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-Eiders
which is there called ‘ King-bird ’ is tolerably common during its periodical migrations, and is frequently
shot in company with the Eider. On the 17th o f December, 1867, I obtained an adult male, and on the
19th an immature bird o f the same s e x ; the latter was one o f two killed at a shot, with eight of the Eider.
King Ducks are more abundant at some seasons than others : in 1865 twenty o f these birds were killed at
a double shot by one o f the settled at Cow-Head. Young males resemble the females during their first
year, but in the second have the throat and neck copiously spotted with white. The adult female is easily
distinguished from the female o f S . mollissima by its much smaller size, its shorter bill, and by having a more
decided rufous tinge on the upper plumage.”— Zoologist, 1869, p. 1759.
Although several examples of the King Duck have undoubtedly been killed on the shores o f 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 Aldborough, in Suffolk. More recently, two instances o f its
occurrence at Lowestoft have been recorded; but Mr. Stevenson is uot inclined to give credence to this
statement. It is said that it formerly bred on Papa Westra, one o f 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 18 3 7 ; two on the coast of
Kerry, one in the winter of 1843, at Derrynane, the other in that of 1845-6, at Tralee B a y ; and a fourth
which was shot on the 11th o f 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 bill was dusky, having the colour
and appearance of india-rubber as sold by 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 with the remains o f Crustacea and mollusca, viz. an Inachus o f middle size, the largest Portunus arcu-
atus he had seen (and perfect, excepting the arms), a Nucula margaritacea, and a small Buccimm 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, o f Ireland, vol. iii. p. 116.
I am especially indebted to my friend Dr. Rae, the celebrated Arctic traveller, for a drawing made by him,
at my request, o f 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 o f his journeys in search o f the lamented
Franklin; the colouring of this ornamental part of the bird may therefore be regarded as strictly accurate.
I believe that two, three, or more years elapse before the protuberance above the bill assumes the form and
colouring represented; for in some examples I have seen it was but little developed, while 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 o f the two sexes, somewhat under the natural size.