THE EIDER DUCK. 39 



Range outside the British Islands. — The Eider Duck, on account 

 of its usefulness in providing the material for quilts, is, in the 

 northern countries of Europe, under the special protection of 

 the law, and it is found nesting on the islands off the coast of 

 Norway and Denmark, as well as in the Faeroes and Iceland. 

 To the northward it occurs in Spitsbergen and Franz Josef 

 Land, and extends eastward to the Kara Sea and westward to 

 the Coppermine River. In America the Common Eider is 

 considered to be represented by a distinct race, which Mr. 

 Ridgway distinguishes as S. inollissima borealis ; it is said by 

 him to be an inhabitant of Eastern North America, includ- 

 ing Greenland, ranging south to Northern Labrador in sum- 

 mer and to the northern border of the United States in 

 winter. Count Salvadori, however, cannot detect any material 

 difference in the Greenland Eider, as it is called, and I at pre- 

 sent agree with him, from a study of the specimens in the 

 British Museum. Mr. Ridgway, however, states that North 

 American specimens have the bill orange-yellowish in life, 

 instead of dull greyish. If this coloration proves to be con- 

 stant, Mr. Ridgway will have proved his point, and the 

 American Eider will have to be separated as S. borealis. 



Hahits. — The Common Eider Duck is practically a resi- 

 dent species in the places which it frequents, and occurs 

 only accidentally away from them, when driven by stress of 

 weather. The females are entrusted with the care of the 

 young, the males taking themselves off, and associating in 

 large flocks on the sea. 



Mr. Seebohm, who has studied the habits of the species on 

 the Fame Islands, writes : — "No bird is more maritime in its 

 habits than the Eider. It rarely, if ever, leaves the sea, and 

 seldom flies over the land, always preferring to follow the 

 coast-line rather than cross even a narrow headland. . . . 

 It loves to frequent precipitous islands and small uninhabited 

 sea-girt rocks, breeding on them, and obtaining its food in the 

 surrounding sea. It is more or less gregarious at all times, 

 but collects into much larger flocks in winter than in summer. 

 Sometimes it is met with at a considerable distance from land, 

 and when undergoing its annual change of feathers it usually 

 keeps well out at sea, as if fully aware of its helplessness and 



