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THE EIDER DUCK. 231 
extend to the base of the tail, which is short, round, and slightly 
decurvated. 
The Eider Duck is the northern bird which supplies the soft, 
light, and warm material which is so well known under the name 
of “ eider-down.” Its plumage is whitish, but the upper part of the 
head, its belly, and its tail are black; the side of the head, the 
throat, and the neck, are white, but the hair-like feathers on the back 
part of the cheeks and nape are of a delicate pale green ; the lower 
part of the neck is cream-coloured. The black parts, from their 
elossiness, are conspicuous, while the white look soiled; the head 
and back are also shaded with a green tint. 
The Eider Duck is found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, 
occurring in diminished numbers in the latter. In the Outer 
Hebrides it has many breeding-places, and some nests occur on 
the Bass Rock, and on the Farn Islands, off the coast of Northum- 
berland, where the eggs have been found in the month of June. 
The nest is made in some hollow in the turf, and is composed of 
sea-weed and dried grass, mixed with such marine plants as /Vantago 
maritima and Coronopsts. The eggs, which vary in number, are of a 
longish oval shape, smooth and glossy, and of a pale greenish grey. 
When they have been laid, the female is said to pluck the down 
from her breast and cover them over with it. This down, when 
shaken out, will occupy a space of nine or ten inches. ‘This 
peculiar quality of the down, however, caused by its elastic cha- 
racter, belongs to all the Anatidz, and probably not less so to 
the Anserinz. 
The principal home of the Eider Duck is on the bleak and 
frozen coast of Northern Europe; and its food, which is obtained by 
diving, is the bivalve mollusca, also crustacea, fishes, and fish- 
spawn, together with aquatic worms. It makes its nest on rocks. 
Sometimes two females lay in the same nest, which then contains 
from nine to ten eggs, for each of them lays from four to six. The 
nest is roughly built. ‘The eider ducks,” as we learn from 
Willoughby, ‘build themselves nests on the rocks, and lay good 
store of very savoury and well-tasted eggs; for the getting of 
which the neighbouring people let themselves down by ropes 
dangerously enough, and with the same labour gather the feathers, 
or eider-dun, our people call them, which are very soft and fit to 
stuff beds and quilts; for in a small quantity they dilate themselves 
much, being very springy, and warm the body above any others. 
These birds are wont at set times to moult their feathers, enriching 
the fowlers with this desirable merchandise.” ‘‘When its young are 
