84 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



or biiffy olive, through which the ground color sometimes shows in 

 washed-out spots. The measurements of 76 eggs, in various collec- 

 tions, average 75.4 by 50.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 83 by 53, 67.8 by 47, and 73.2 by 46 millimeters. 



Young. — -The period of incubation of the European eider has been 

 ascertained by several observers to be about 28 days. It is performed 

 wholly by the female. The males are said to desert the females at 

 this time and form small flocks by themselves; but the following 

 observation by Kumlien (1879) is interesting: 



I have often lain behind a rock on their breeding islands and watched them 

 for a long time. On one occasion we disturbed a large colony, and the ducks 

 all left the nests. I sent my Eskimos away to another island, while I re- 

 mained behind to see how the ducks would act when they returned. As soon 

 as the boat was gone they began to return to their nests, both males and 

 females. It was very amusing to see a male alight beside a nest, and with a 

 satisfied air settle himself down on the eggs, when suddenly a female would 

 come to the same nest and inform him that he had made a mistake — it was 

 not his nest. He started up, looked blankly around, discovered his mistake, 

 and with an awkward and very ludicrous bow, accompanied with some suit- 

 able explanation, I suppose, he waddled off in search of his own home, where 

 he found his faithful mate installed. 



Mr. Turners notes state that : 



The young leave the nest when about 30 hours old and immediately accom- 

 pany the parent to the edge of the water. The distance to be traveled varies 

 from a few feet to half a mile. I have not on the Atlantic coast found the 

 nests so far from the water as were found at St. Michael, Alaska. In some 

 instances the nest is placed on ledges that have no path by which the delicate 

 young can reach the water excepting by plunging several feet to the next 

 ledge or else be assisted by the parent. The latter I have not seen the old 

 ones do or have I seen it so recorded. The young remain vdth the mother 

 during the summer and probably do not leave her at all, but join with other 

 broods to compose the flocks seen in the fall of the year. As soon as the 

 young are hatched the males separate from the females and do not join them 

 again until fall. 



Mr. Ekblaw says in his notes: 



The first nesting birds hatch their eggs soon after .July 1. The most are 

 hatched about July 15 to 20. On Sutherland Island as late as August 16, 

 1912, I found a nest of four eggs still hatching in a single isolated nest. In 

 this nest one little fellow had hatched and dried, and when I flushed the 

 mother he followed her to the water. Another little fellow just hatched was 

 not yet dry, but even so, he sensed the alarm and tried to hide in the down 

 with which the nest was lined. A third duckling was just cutting the shell ; 

 later in the evening when I came back to the nest he had come safely into 

 the world. The fourth egg was not even cracked, but a vigorous peeping 

 within the shell indicated that on the morrow the last of the bi-ood would 

 follow the mother into the water. 



The downy little ducklings get into the water just as soon as they can. 

 They paddle after their mothers like animated little black balls of fur, keeping 

 always close to her. Even when tiny, they dive like a flash, and come up like 



