LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN WILD FOWL 79 



SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA BOREALIS (Brehm) 



NORTHERN EIDER 



HABITS 



Sj^ring. — Winter linuers on the outer coast of Labrador well into 

 the summer months; all through the month of June and part of 

 July the northeast winds and the Arctic current drive the drifting 

 pack ice onto these exposed and barren rocky coasts. Long before 

 the icy barriers yield to the soft west winds and as soon as the lanes 

 of open water begin to break up the fields of ice, flocks of these 

 heavy-bodied sea ducks may be seen wending their way northward 

 in the opening leads, flying with slow and labored wings beats close 

 to the cold, dark waves or resting in flocks on the larger pans of 

 ice until the way opens for further progress. IMany of them have 

 been wintering just beyond the ice floes and are seeking the first 

 opportunity to find open water near their northern breeding grounds. 



Regarding their arrival in Cumberland Sound, Kumlien (1879) 

 says : 



As soon as there is any open water they are found in spring ; still they are 

 not common at Annanactook till the latter days of May. Eskimos from tlie 

 south reported them on the floe edge near Niantilie early in May, and I saw 

 a few on an iceberg near the Middliejuacktwack Island on the 30th of April. 

 They can stand almost any temperature if tliey can find open water. 



W. Elmer Ekblaw writes to me of their arrival in northern Green- 

 land, as follows : 



The all-winter residents are probably the first eiders to appear along the 

 mainland shore in early spring, wherever open water may be found off the 

 outermost capes and islands, usually about April 20. The number of eiders 

 frequenting these open places gradually increases, but slowly, until the last 

 week in May, when the immigration begins in earnest and c(»ntinues until 

 mid-June, when apparently the last comers have arrived. The females come 

 later than the males, but the last females come with the last males. They 

 are usually rather shy and wary and will not permit near approach. 



By mid-June the mating season is usually at its height, but in years of 

 heavy snow when the islets are covered until late, the season is retarded. 

 The .summer of 1014 was a summer of late melting of snow and the nesting 

 seasfm of the eiders had hardly begun by the 20th of June. 



Courtship. — John G. Millais (1913) describes tlie courtship of 

 the European subspecies, as follows: 



The courtship of the eider is a very simple one, and somewhat undemonstra- 

 tive. It is essentially in accordance with the gentle disposition of the bird. 

 The female seems to be at least as amorous as the male, and pays consider- 

 able court to the object of her affections. Having selected a mate, she follows 

 him round and round in all his movements, stretching lier neck out and sink- 

 ing low in the water, calling and pushing herself against his side until he 

 responds. The male, on his part, makes a very slight " lift " in front, the bill 



