82 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



northern eider. A pair of great black-backed gulls were breeding 

 on the island; we saw the old nest and a young gull running about, 

 as well as the old birds flying overhead. There is generally a pair 

 of these gulls on every island where the eiders are breeding. The 

 natives, who rob the duck's nests regularly, never disturb the gull's 

 nest, for they believe that if the gulls are driven off the ducks will 

 not return to the island to lay again. They say that the black-backed 

 gulls are good watch dogs, to warn the eiders of approaching danger 

 and to keep away the ravens and other gulls which might rob the 

 nests. The great black-backed gulls are notorious nest robbers and 

 destroj^ers of young eiders elsewhere, but perhaps they do not in- 

 dulge in highway robbery and murder so near home. Perhaps, how- 

 ever, the gulls do lev}^ their toll in eggs and young eiders, which the 

 latter are too stupid to avoid. 



On the coast of Greenland the northern eider frequently nests 

 on cliffs, according to J. D. Figgins, as the following quotation from 

 his notes, published by Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1899) will 

 illustrate : 



It prefers the small islands lying some distance offshore, but also breeds 

 on the mainland. Its nest is usually well up the cliffs, and in some cases 

 quite a distance from shore. One nest containing 4 eggs was at an altitude of 

 about 450 feet, and more than three-quarter of a mile from shore. 



Dalrymple Rock is the favorite breeding place of this species, it is much 

 broken, and the many ledges offer fine nesting sites. Therei is a heavy 

 growth of grass on these ledges, and the nest, when it has been used for 

 many years, is a depression in the sod, lined with the down from the breast 

 of the female. As soon as incubation begins the male birds form into 

 flocks of from 4 or 5 to 20, and seem to be always on the wing. There is 

 a constant line of the male birds fljing around Dalrymple Rock, all going 

 in the same direction. As soon as incubation is completed, the young are 

 transferred to the water, where they seem perfectly at ease, even when 

 there is a heavy sea running. 



Mr. Ekblaw thus describes, in his notes, a A'isit to one of the 

 great breeding resorts of these birds in northern Greenland: 



On June 23 and 25, 1914. we went in a whaleboat to the Eider Islands, be- 

 tween Wolstenholme Island and Saunders Island. These are favorite nesting 

 places of the eiders. In normal years the islands are covered with thousands 

 of nests, but we found a relatively small number of the birds at this time. 



As we approached the largest islet of the group flock after flock of eiders 

 flew about us, skimming fast and low over the water. The males and females 

 seemed about equal in number. The bright-colored plumage of the male con- 

 trasts vividly in the sunlight with the dark, uniformly barred coat of the 

 female, both awing and alight. 



Numerous pairs of the eiders were swimming about in the sea or idly preen- 

 ing their feathers or wooing on tlie ice pans. Their wooing " song " very 

 closely resembles the cooing of our domestic pigeons. The noise from a flock 

 together in the mating season might readily be mistaken for the " music " 



