ANATID.^. 



459 



--Aw-A'\'"^'^^^' ■ 



.. N^\,S\K\.^\ 7 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



SoMATERiA MOLLissiMA (Linnceus). 



The Eider Duck is only a winter-visitor in somewhat small 

 numbers to Wales and the western and southern coasts of England, 

 but along the east side it gradually becomes more abundant north- 

 ward, and along the coast of Northumberland, especially on the 

 Fame Islands, it has been known for centuries as a breeding bird. 

 In Scotland it nests in suitable localities up to the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands ; while in the Outer Hebrides it is decidedly increasing, 

 and it breeds freely on Tiree, as well as on Colonsay, Jura and Islay, 

 and in some localities in Argyll. On the Irish coast only about 

 thirty-six examples have been obtained, chiefly in cold weather. 



This species is abundant in Iceland, the Faeroes, and Norway, 

 where it is protected by law ; thence northward it can be traced to 

 Jan Mayen, Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land. It also breeds on 

 both islands of Novaya Zemlya, but it is rare at the mouth of the 

 Yenesei ; while eastward it is not known to extend beyond Cape 

 Chelyuskin, and has not been found by recent travellers at the 

 mouth of the Lena or in Kamchatka. Bering Sea is inhabited by a 



