Editing Common eider (section)

==Taxonomy==
The common eider was [[Species description|formally named]] by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1758 in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it with all the other ducks in the [[genus]] ''[[Anas]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Anas mollissima''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=124 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727029}}</ref> It is now placed with two other species in the genus ''[[Somateria]]'' that was introduced in 1819 by the English zoologist [[William Elford Leach|William Leach]].<ref>{{ cite book | last=Leach | first=William Elford | author-link=William Elford Leach | editor-last=Ross | editor-first=John | editor-link=John Ross (Royal Navy officer) | year=1819 | title=A Voyage of Discovery made under the orders of the Admiralty in her Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay, and enquiring into the probability of a North-West passage | location=London | publisher=John Murray | at=Appendix II, p. 48 | url=https://archive.org/details/voyageofdiscover00ross/page/48/mode/1up }}</ref><ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=30 November 2021 }}</ref> The genus name is derived from [[Ancient Greek]] {{linktext|σῶμα}} ''sōma'' 'body' (stem ''somat-'') and {{linktext|ἔριον}} ''erion'' 'wool'. The specific ''mollissimus'' is [[Latin]], meaning 'very soft'. Both parts of the name refer to its [[down feathers]].<ref>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page = [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n258 258], [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n359 359]}}</ref>

Six subspecies are recognised:<ref name=ioc/>
* ''S. m. v-nigrum'' [[Charles Lucien Bonaparte|Bonaparte]] & [[George Robert Gray|Gray, GR]], 1855 – breeds in northeast Asia and Alaska; winters in the [[Bering Sea]] and the [[Aleutian Islands]]
* ''S. m. borealis'' ([[Christian Ludwig Brehm|Brehm, CL]], 1824) – breeds in northeast Canada, Greenland and Iceland; winters in the north Atlantic
* ''S. m. sedentaria'' Snyder, 1941 – breeds in [[Hudson Bay]] and [[James Bay]] (Canada) 
* ''S. m. dresseri'' [[Richard Bowdler Sharpe|Sharpe]], 1871 – breeds in southeast Canada and northeast USA; winters around northwest Atlantic coasts
* ''S. m. faeroeensis'' Brehm, CL, 1831 – [[Faroe Islands]]
* ''S. m. mollissima'' ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758) – breeds in northwest Eurasia; winters in northwest and central Europe