of the Gulf of St* Lawrence. 259 



as on first going over the ground. This island is, however, pe- 

 culiarly adapted to their wants, being covered with a thick growth 

 of the plant above mentioned, hardly elevated above the water 

 and at a suflScient distance from the main land to prevent it being 

 often visited by the inhabitants. I found on this island a nest in 

 a small stone hut, made for the purpose of concealing the hunters 

 in the spring, at which time they shoot immense numbers of the 

 Eider or Sea Ducks, as they call them. 



I found many nests in which the down was quite clean, and am 

 inclined to believe that it is always so if the bird is undisturbed ; 

 but after having been frequently robbed, the supply not being 

 sufficiently great, it is forced to eke it out with the most convenient 

 substitute, and late in the season it is not at all uncommon to find 

 nests without any down. I found some containing fresh eggs, 

 and others that had just been finished after the middle of July, and 

 many birds had already hatched their brood by the first, it is 

 probable that others had made at least three nests that season. 

 Audubon states that the eggs are deposited on the grass, &c., of 

 which the nest is principally composed. I did not see an instance, 

 where there was any down, that this was the case. Nearly every 

 day, during the first week or two, I found nests containing one, 

 two, three, or more freshly laid eggs lying on a bed of down so 

 exquisitely soft and warm that, in that almost painfuly barren 

 and frigid region, it was the ideal of comfort, almost of beauty. 

 When the bird leaves her nest without being suddently disturb- 

 ed, I believe the eggs are generally covered with down, always 

 so after the full complement has been laid. The largest number 

 of eggs found by me in a nest was six, and this in so many in- 

 stances that I am inclined to think it the normal number ; in color, 

 they present two varieties, one of a pale greenish-olive or oil 

 green, and the other a brownish or true olive ; the former are 

 frequently marked with large spots or splashes of the same 

 color of much greater intensity ; the latter are invariably unspot- 

 ted. After the eggs have been incubated for some time, they are 

 always more or less scratched and marked, probably by the claws 

 of the bird while sitting on them or rolling them over. In shape 

 they present little variety, being always nearly oval ; the diameter 

 is considerable. In size, the difierence is perhaps less than in the 

 majority of birds. 



Four selected eggs measured as follows : *15 x 4*7 mill, — 83 x 55 

 — lYx 44 — 75 X 47. Of these the first was the most elongated ; 



