LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 101 



which were fired at a flock of ducks as they passed through, I observed by my 

 watch how long they were in flying abreast of us. The result of above a dozen 

 observations ascertained the rate to be 90 miles an hour. 



The male, aside from his courtship notes or love song already de- 

 scribed, appears to be a silent bird. The female utters at times a roll- 

 ing quack or a succession of sharp huh huh huhs; the latter is heard 

 when she is suddenly disturbed at the nest. 



The great black-backed gull is probably the greatest enemy of the 

 eider, aside from the arch enemy, man. Nesting in the same region 

 and having a voracious progeny to support this gull takes frequent 

 opportunities of pillaging the nest and capturing the downy young. 

 The raven also eats both eggs and young. Another enemy, which is 

 now entirely extirpated from the Labrador region south of Hamilton 

 Inlet, is the polar bear. Cartwright (1792) gives several instances of 

 their depredations. Hie says in his Journal, under date of June 18, 

 1777: 



On examining the paunches of the bears (an old bitch polar bear and her 

 cub), found them well filled with eggs. I had often heretofore observed that 

 all the nests upon an island had been robbed and the down pulled out, but I 

 did not know till now how those things happened. 



~Winter. — In the fall migration eiders arrive on the New England 

 coast late in November or early in December. The eider winters 

 throughout its range wherever there is open water and as far south 

 regularly as Nantucket, rarely as far as Delaware and Virginia. 

 Along the Maine coast it is still abundant in winter, although its 

 numbers are much reduced over those of former days. On the 

 Massachusetts coast the eider may be found off Cape Ann and Cape 

 Cod, and especially in the tempestuous and shallow seas about 

 Nantucket. 



Mackay (1890) records the shooting of 87 eiders in a December 

 day in 1859 by one man near the Salvages, small rocky islands off 

 Eockport, on the end of Cape Ann. I was told that in 1875 a 

 hundred eiders were shot there by a gunner in January. Of late 

 years one is lucky to find any, but on March 14, 1909, I saw a flock 

 of 17 near the Salvages. Mackay (1890) says that as the birds 

 come in to feed in the morning they alight some distance outside these 

 rocks and swim in in a compact body. They dive for the mussels 

 outside the breakers. On March 18, 1875, he saw a flock between 

 Muskeget and Nantucket Islands that he estimated contained 12,000 

 birds, and a flock near the harbor of Nantucket in 1890 of about 

 1,500. In March, 1894, he estimated about 200 eiders near Muskeget 

 and 2,000 near Cape Poge, Marthas Vineyard. Also between 4,000 

 and 5,000 near Woods Hole, attracted by the great beds of the edible 

 mussel. 



