412 WEB-FOOTED BIRDS. 



ing the young ; the female therefore hastens to convey her 

 brood to the sea, sometimes even carrying them on her 

 back to the element in which they are thenceforth destined 

 to live. The male now also leaves her, and neither of them 

 return more that season permanently to the land. Several 

 hatches associate together at sea, and form flocks of 20 or 

 30, attended by the females who lead them; and are seen 

 continually splashing the water, to raise with the mud and 

 sediment, the insects and small shell-fish for such of the 

 young as are too weak to dive for themselves. The Eider 

 dives deep after fry, and feeds upon small shell-fish, muscles, 

 and univalves, and sometimes on the Sea-Urchin (Echinus) 

 and various kinds of marine insects and sea-weeds, and in 

 summer mostly on the soft mollusca so abundant in the 

 Arctic and hyperboreal seas. Their flesh is dark and fishy, 

 though sufficiently tender, and that of the young and the 

 female may be considered good. They are commonly eaten 

 by the Greenlanders, and their skin is esteemed as an ex- 

 cellent inner garment. Prepared with the feathers left on, 

 they also form an article of commerce with the North, 

 and particularly with the Chinese. Fitted purposely for 

 inhabiting the coldest climates and the sea, they do not long 

 survive in temperate regions, and all attempts to domes- 

 ticate them have consequently failed. 



In the breeding season, in Norway, some of the male 

 Eiders are seen roaming about unpaired, either superan- 

 nuated or unable to keep possession of the females. Mr. 

 Audubon remarks, that the Sea Ducks (Eiders, Surf Duck, 

 Velvet, and Scoter) moult in July, and by the 10th of 

 August are so naked of feathers, and even destitute of 

 quills, as to be unable to rise either from the water or the 

 ground. At this juncture, in the Bay of Fundy, the 

 Indians in large companies assemble in their canoes at the 

 entrances of the bays frequented by these birds, and divi- 



