370 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



bay on a rocky coast, a company of scaup will take up 

 their quarters for the whole winter, and seldom leave the 

 spot, unless disturbed by man, or driven out by a heavy 

 sea. From their unsuspicious nature, it is not difficult to 

 approach them, and an interesting sight it is to watch a 

 company of them in such a place, all busily engaged on 

 their everyday employment. The fretted-white back 

 of an old drake contrasts prettily with the dark weed- 

 covered reef along which he cruises, ever and anon diving 

 close under the rocks to study conchology among the 

 waving fronds and sea-tangles which grow beneath him. 



The eider resembles the scaup in many of its habits, 

 and both ducks are intimately acquainted with the local 

 geography of the sea-bottom ; all its depths for miles, and 

 the position of every submerged reef and shallow being 

 well known to them. But while the scaup contents himself 

 with the smaller shell-fish and Crustacea, the eider, with 

 his strong, hooked beak, can crush and devour dog-crabs 

 nearly as broad across as one's fist ; from the gullet of 

 an eider-drake I have shaken out three or four big crabs, 

 on holding him up by the legs. 



Eiders are specially fond of going ashore to sun them- 

 selves on the edge of a reef or rocky island. In such 

 positions, among black rocks, one would imagine an old 

 eider-drake would be a very conspicuous object ; but 

 it is surprisingly easy to sail past a dozen of them 

 unperceived, so precisely does their bold black-and-white 

 plumage harmonise with the broken water, and with 

 the great balls of foam which are driven up on to the 

 rocks by the wind and sea. Eiders, or, as they are locally 

 called, "culvers," are quite common on parts of the north- 

 east coast ; but Northumberland has the honour of being 

 the only English county in which they breed. Their 



