KING-EIDER . 329 



flocks to an independent life on the ocean-wave in freedom from family 

 cares and anxieties. In winter, when the females have rejoined their 

 consorts, the flocks are sometimes very large, and may be seen at 

 considerable distances from land. During the moulting-scason these 

 birds seem never to approach the shore ; finding in the open sea, when 

 unable to fly, that protection which the mallard secures by skulking 

 amid reeds. It is in the sea that the cider procures its food, which 

 comprises crabs, shrimps, shell-fish, small fishes, etc. The usual cry is 

 a harsh grating note, replaced by a softer cooing sound during the 

 pairing-season. 



The closeness with which an eider will sit on its nest, even when 

 approached within two or three paces, is one of the most striking traits 

 in the habits of this species. Rocky islands are the favourite breeding- 

 sites, and while in some instances the nests are placed in crannies only 

 a short distance from the water, in others they are situated amid the 

 herbage on the open ground. The nest itself is a bulky structure 

 composed of dry grass, heather, seaweed, and plant-stems, which, as 

 the eggs are laid, is gradually filled with an abundant supply of the 

 bird's own down. From five to eight is the normal number of eggs in 

 a clutch ; their colour is greenish stone, and their length varies from 

 just below 3 to 3^ inches. 



Drakes of the eider occasionally show a narrow and indistinct dark 

 chevron (with the apex pointing towards the beak) on the under 

 surface of the head ; and on this account specimens from Orkne}- have 

 been incorrectly referred to the Pacific eider S. v.-iiignim, which is 

 unknown in the British Isles. That species is a larger and heavier 

 bird, with the beak of the drake bright orange, the black chevron large 

 and sharply defined, and the green patch encroaching on the white 

 of the side of the head, and extending beyond the eye, which it does 

 not do in the ordinary species. The occasional presence in the latter 

 of a small chevron must be regarded as a " sport," perhaps an ancestral 

 heritage. 



Kinff-Eider '^ ^"^^ handsomer, but at the same time a far rarer 



(Somateria ^^^"^ ^" ^^^^ British Isles (where it has never yet been 



spectabilis) known to breed), is the king-eider, whose breeding 



area includes in the Old World the circumpolar 



zone north of Iceland and Scandinavia, thus embracing Xovaia Zemlia, 



Kolguev, the New Siberian Islands, and the Siberian coast generally. 



In the western hemisphere, on the other hand, the breeding-range is 



more extensive in latitude, as it includes not only Greenland and the 



