90 BULLETIN 130, UiSTITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



not; so after waiting for a quarter of an hour, during which it did not move, 

 I gave it a lift with my long seal gaff, when it at once floated to the surface 

 quite dead. The mouth was half open: some thin weeds encircled the neck. 

 Doubtless this bird allowed itself to be drowned, as its half -open bill showed ; 

 but that it was actually holding on to the weeds I could see no sign. I could 

 narrate several instances of a similar character which would only tend 

 to show that whilst the birds both voluntarily get into positions under water 

 from which they will not move until death overtakes them and also into 

 crannies and encircling weeds from which they can not escape owing to lack 

 of strength, yet there is not actual proof that they hold on to the weeds at the 

 bottom of the sea, as Naumann suggests. 



Outside of the vocal performances indulged in during the mating 

 season, eiders, particularly males, are decidedly silent birds. Mr. 

 Turner says: 



The females utter a grating croak while flying to or from their nests and a 

 hiss while on the nest. This hissing sound gives rise to the Eskimo name of 

 this species, Mitik. 



Mr. Millais (1913) says: 



In winter eiders are very silent birds, like all the sea ducks except the long- 

 tail, and their voice is not often heard except when single individuals are 

 searching for their friends. The male when swimming occasionally utters a 

 hoarse, grating call like the words ''Kor-er-korkorr-kor," and the female a 

 slightly higher note, "Kar-er-karkar-kaa." The female also utters this call 

 when she is flying. 



Referring to the enemies of eiders, Mr. Millais (1913) writes: 



In the winter eiders have few enemies except man, though sea eagles often 

 attack them along the coast line in Noi-way, whilst the great black-backed gull 

 has a wonderful eye for a " picked " bird and will hunt it until it falls a prey 

 owing to exhaustion. In the summer eiders have many enemies in their Arctic 

 home, and a few in our islands. Even in the Orkneys and Shetlands a few of 

 the young fall a prey to both lesser and greater black-backed gulls ; whilst 

 Richardson's skua is not wholly above suspicion. In Unst the great skua has 

 been seen to attack and swallow young eiders. In Iceland numbers of young 

 eiders are killed by Richardson's skua, sea eagles, and a few by the Iceland 

 falcons. Arctic foxes are not numerous here, as they are in the Russian 

 islands, Greenland, and Labrador, where these animals levy heavy toll on the 

 old birds on the nests as well as the young. Polar bears also kill quantities 

 of young eiders, and will break and eat their eggs. In West Greenland the 

 harp seal is said to catch eiders on the water, coming up and seizing them from 

 below, and it is possible that the small whale, Orca gladiator, kills a few. In 

 northeast Greenland the chief marauder of all sea birds is the glaucous gull, 

 which creates much havoc amongst young ducks. 



Dr. I. I. Hayes' (1867) gives the following graphic account of the 

 predatory habits of the glaucous gulls: 



A rugged little ledge, which I named Eider Island, was so thickly colonized 

 that we could hardly walk without treading on a nest. We killed with guns 

 and stones over 200 birds in a few hours ; it was near the close of the breeding 

 season. The nests were still occupied by the mother birds ; but many of the 

 young had burst the shell, and were nestling under the wing, or taking their 

 first lessons in the water pools. Some, more advanced, were already in the 



