EIDER DUCK. 413 



ding themselves on either side of the head-land, fire their 

 guns with powder, and hooting and yelling as loud as possi- 

 ble, drive the terrified birds into the cove at high tide, 

 where the natives remain until the ebb. The Ducks are 

 thus left grounded on the naked coast, and are then easily 

 dispatched with clubs. In this most destructive way, as 

 many as 450 or upwards have been taken in two hours. 

 Many, if not all of these, as well as the Loons by which 

 they were accompanied, Mr. A. believed to be barren or un- 

 paired birds, which had not proceeded to the north with the 

 rest of the flocks. 



The total length of the Eider is about 25i^ inches ; the closed wing 

 12 inches 9 lines ; the bill above to its utmost extension along the 

 front 3 inches 1 line, to the intersecting point of the frontal feathers 

 2^ inches ; tarsus 2 inches 1 line. In the male, there is on each side 

 the frontal plate and sides of the head above and through the eyes 

 a very wide band of rich violet-black, whose extremities unite 

 upon the front. The cheeks, angular band on the summit of the 

 head as well as the occiput, pale, or siskin-green fading off into the 

 surrounding white plumage. Cheeks, chin, neck, breast, back, scap- 

 ulars, lesser coverts, curved tertiaries, sides of the rump, and under 

 wing coverts, white ; the tertiaries faintly tinged with greenish- 

 yellow, and the breast with reddish-white or flesh color, deepest 

 towards its junction with the black below. Greater coverts, quills, 

 rump, tail, and its coverts, as well as the rest of the under plumage, 

 pitch-black ; but the ends of the quills and tail fading into dusky- 

 brown ; the posterior greater coverts have a tinge of violet. The 

 bill oil-green. Legs greenish-yellow. Iris brown. Closed wings 

 nearly 5 inches shorter than the tail. Nostrils impervious. 



The female is bright yellowish-rufous, transversely barred with 

 black. Wing coverts dusky-brown, edged with dull rufous; the 

 greater coverts and secondaries narrowly tipped with white, so as to 

 produce the appearance of one or two indistinct bars. Head and 

 upper part of the neck marked with dusky stripes. Under plumage 

 clove-brown, with obscure darker blotches. — The young male xq- 

 sembles the female. 



35* 



