LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 105 



Apparently the most extensive breeding grounds of this species 

 are in the vicinity of Franklin and Liverpool Bays, where MacFar- 

 lane (1891) collected and sent to Washington over a thousand eggs. 

 He says : 



The nest is usually a shallow cavity in the ground, more or less plentifully 

 lined with down. We found some nests on a sloping bank at a distance of 

 300 or more feet from the sea. Others were also on the mainland, but the 

 bulk of those secured by us were obtained from sandy islets in the bays. 



Eggs. — The Pacific eider has been credited with laying anywhere 

 from 5 to 10 eggs, but probably the larger sets are exceptional. The 

 eggs are indistinguishable in every way from those of mollissiTna 

 horealis and dresseid, so I will not attempt to describe them here. 

 The measurements of 85 eggs in the United States National Museum 

 and the writer's collections average 75.9 by 50.4 millimeters ; the eggs 

 showing the four extremes measure 86.5 by 52, 74.5 by 55.5, 70 by 

 48.5 and 71.5 by 47 millimeters. 



Young. — Although incubation is performed wholly by the female, 

 and although the male usually deserts the female after the eggs are 

 all laid, he sometimes remains near her during the process of incuba- 

 tion and may help to guard the nest or young. 



Doctor Nelson (1887) says: 



From the 15th to the 20th of June nearly all the males desert their partners 

 and are thenceforth found at sea or about outlying reefs and islands in large 

 flocks, as already described. Toward the end of June the first young appear, 

 but the majority are not hatched until the first of July. As the young are 

 hatched they are led to the nearest large pond or tide creek and thence to 

 the sheltered bays and mouths of streams on the seacoast. About this time 

 the females lose their quill feathers and, like the young, are very expert in 

 diving at the flash of a gun. At this time the Eskimo amuse themselves by 

 throwing spears at the young, but the latter are such excellent divers that 

 they are rarely hit. As a rule the young do not fly before the 10th of Sep- 

 tember, and broods with the female are often seen unable to fly even later. 



Mr. Hersey's notes on the young of this species say : 



When the young are hatched the female leads her brood to some small 

 pond or lagoon just back from the coast, and apparently they do not take 

 to the open sea or even the outer bays until well grown. I never saw any 

 young birds on St. Michael Bay until they had become strong on the wing. 

 A female with a brood of young was found in a small lagoon just back from 

 the beach on Stuart Island on July 8, 1915. In her endeavors to lead her 

 brood to safety the mother bird was absolutely fearless. I stood on the bank 

 within 30 feet of her and watched for about 20 minutes. She splashed about 

 in the water, making quite a commotion, all the while calling in a low' gut- 

 tural tone. Some of the young swam around her while others dove. Those 

 that went under seemed unable to stay down more than the smallest fraction 

 of a minute and reappeared almost instantaneously, bobbing up as buoyantly 

 as corks. After considerable difficulty she got her brood around her and 

 started to swim away, but the young did not follow and, after swimming 

 some 12 or 15 feet and calling, she returned and the performance was repeated. 



