T h e four species of eider Somateria/Polysticta are a diverse bunch. T h e males differ greatly, while, although there is the potential for confusion between female Eider S. mollissima and female King Eider S. spectabilis, the female Spectacled Eider S. fischeri is as unmistakable in her way as is the male.Among words I have seen used to describe this species are 'grotesque' and 'clumsy', but surely these pictures by the late Sacha Kistchinsky (kindly sent to us by Irene Neufeldt) show this female at the nest as a gentle bird peering out at the world from behind her spectacles. T h e feathering of this area is particularly soft a n d velvety, and note how, unlike those of the Eider a n d King Eider, the base of the bill is fully feathered. This is a full adult female; the immature female is paler, has much less barring or mottling on the breast, and her 'spectacles' are less well defined. Despite its considerable numbers--an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 individuals--remarkably little is known about this species. Its breeding range, in Alaska and eastern Siberia, is fairly well understood, but few substantial flocks have been found during the summer moult period, while its principal wintering grounds are unknown, though suspected to lie within the Bering Sea, wherever there are large leads or other open-water areas in the predominating pack-ice. MAO