198 THE EIDER DUCK 



marshes, since it finds its rest and food on the open sea. Conse- 

 quently it is not migratory, and stray specimens only visit the 

 southern shores of England. Where it was bred, there, probably, or 

 not far off, it remains all the year round. The Farn Islands, off the 

 coast of Northumberland, are considered to be the extreme southern 

 limit of its breeding-ground. In the Hebrides, the Orkneys and 

 Shetland Islands, it is quite at home, but in none of these places is 

 it found in sufficient numbers to give it iuiportance. It is rare on 

 the Irish coast. 



In the Arctic regions, in Iceland, and on the rocky coasts of 

 Norway and Sweden, Eider Ducks are very numerous. In Labrador, 

 Audubon informs us, they begin to form their nests about the end 

 of May or the beginning of June. ' For this purpose some resort 

 to islands scantily furnished with grass ; others choose a site beneath 

 the spreading boughs of stunted firs, and, in such places, five, six, 

 or even eight are sometimes found beneath a single bush ; many are 

 placed on the sheltered shelvings of rocks a few feet above high- 

 water mark. The nest, which is sunk as much as possible into the 

 ground, is formed of sea-weeds, mosses, and dried twigs, so matted 

 and interlaced as to give an appearance of neatness to the central 

 cavity, which rarely exceeds seven inches in diameter. In the 

 beginning of June the eggs are deposited, the male attending upon 

 the female the whole time. The eggs, which are regularly placed 

 on the moss and weeds of the nest without any down, are generally 

 from five to seven. When the full complement of eggs has been 

 laid, the female begins to pluck some down from the lower part of 

 the body ; this operation is daily continued for some time, until 

 the roots of the feathers, as far forward as she can reach, are quite 

 bare. This down she disposes beneath and around the eggs. When 

 she leaves the nest to go in search of food, she places it over her 

 eggs to keep up their warmth.' 



Sir W. J. Hooker, in his interesting Journal of a Tour in Iceland, 

 describes the nests as he saw them in the little island of Akaroe, 

 where, as on other uninhabited islands, the Eider Ducks breed in 

 great numbers. " On our landing on the rocky island, we found 

 the Eider fowls sitting upon their nests, which were rudely 

 formed of their own down, generally among the old and half- 

 decayed sea-weed, that the storms had cast high up on the beach, 

 but sometimes only among the bare rocks. It was difficult to make 

 these birds leave their nests, and so little inclined were many of 

 them to do it, that they even permitted us to handle them, whilst 

 they were sitting, without their appearing to be at all alarmed. 

 Under each of them were two or four eggs ; the latter is the number 

 they lay, but from many of them two had been taken for food by 

 the natives, who prefer those which have young ones in them. 

 June 24th." A few days later (June 27,) he visited the island of 

 V'idoe, the residence of the ex-governor, where, he says, ' we were 



