194 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



The circumstances under which I orot the 

 specimens in the case, with the exception of the two 

 birds in winter dress, are described under the Razor 

 Bill (Case 42), for they were all close together on 

 the rocks there mentioned. These little birds, 

 although their wings are very short, managed to 

 skim along- the surface of the sea with ereat 

 rapidity ; their flight is quite straight, so they are not 

 so very difficult. They are, indeed, harder to shoot 

 on the water than on the wing- owingf to their divinof 

 powers. 



The food of all these Auks is, I think, much the 

 same — such as small fish, crustaceans, etc. Howard 

 Saunders gives as their habitat abroad : " Faroes, 

 Scandinavia, Denmark, parts of the Baltic, White 

 Sea ; whilst on the other side of the Atlantic they 

 are found from Massachusetts to South Green- 

 land." 



CASE 39. 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



Order, Anseres. Family, A7iatid(E. 



This large, essentially sea duck, the drake of 

 which is particularly striking in plumage, is found 

 more on the coast of Northumberland and on the 

 western islands of Scotland than anywhere else in 

 the British Islands, although Howard Saunders 

 says : "It is only a winter visitor in comparatively 



