92 CATALOGUE OF lURDS. 



EIDER.— (Nest.) 



Case 92. 



This case, wliicli represents the female with her nest, 

 showing the eggs embedded in the well-known Eider 

 down, is copied from a sketch taken on the Island of 

 Fidra, in the Firth of Forth. The nest was placed on 

 a small ledge in the face of the rock, at the height of 

 forty or fifty feet above high-water mark. 



I have never visited the island during the spring or 

 summer without discovering a nest in that identical 

 spot; on the last occasio]i, in 1874, there were two 

 placed side by side. 



The female was shot in Gullane Bay, in the Firth 

 of Forth, on May, 1867, and the nest and eggs were 

 obtained on the Island of Fidra the following month. 



EIDER.— (Autumn.) 



Case 93. 



I think it probable that the male Eider is at least two, 

 and possibly three, years old before he assumes the full, 

 white backed plumage. 



During summer, young males may be seen in various 

 stages of plumage, the white becoming more conspicuous 

 by age. 



The case shows a male killed in September, and a 

 pair of young birds in their nestling feathers. 



The specimens were shot in the Firth of Forth, near 

 the Island of Ebris, in September, 1874. 



