408 



WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



which it has such a predilection. The older birds are 

 indeed only partially migratory, moving no further south- 

 ward in winter than to permanent open water. Its presence, 

 with a few other birds of like habits and hardihood, con- 

 tributes to give an air of animation to the bleak and dreary 

 coasts of Greenland and Spitzbergen. They are equally 

 abundant in Lapland, Norway and Iceland, at Bering's 

 Island, and the Kuriles, as well as in the Hebrides and 

 Orkneys in Scotland ; they are more rare in Sweden and 

 Denmark, passengers in Germany, and the young only 

 appear on the European coasts of the Atlantic. They are 

 found throughout Arctic America, and in severe winters 

 sometimes wander as far south to sea, as the capes of the 

 Delaware, In the depth of winter, or from November to 

 the middle of February, the old birds are also usually seen 

 in small numbers towards the extremities of Massachusetts 

 Bay, and along the coast of Maine. A few pairs even have 

 been known to breed on some rocky islands beyond Port- 

 land. Mr. Audubon found several nesting on the isle of 

 Grand Manan in the Bay of Funday ; but on the bleak 

 and wintry coast of Labrador they were seen by him in 

 abundance, nesting and laying from April to the last of 

 May. Their eggs were from 6 to 10, dull greenish-white, and 

 smooth. The nest was usually placed under the shelter of 

 a low prostrate branched and dwarf Fir (probably Pinus 

 SanJcsiana,) and sometimes several are made under the 

 same bush within a foot or two of each other. The ground- 

 work of the nest, as usual, was sea-weeds and moss, but 

 the down of the female parent is only added when all the 

 eggs are laid. The Duck now acquiring an attachment for 

 her eggs, was at this time easily approached, her flight being 

 even and rather slow. As soon as the task of incubation 

 has commenced, the males leave the land, associate together 

 in large flocks out at sea ; in July begin to moult, and in 



