WiLtp-Fowt or Witp-FowL 
of them resorting to tree-hollows by the retired 
lakes. The Red-head is also reported as nesting 
rarely in this region. 
It is quite surprising that while incalculable thou- 
sands of the Eiders—known to fishermen and gun- 
ners as ‘‘Sea Ducks’’—pass up the St. Lawrence 
on their way to Labrador and beyond, without even 
stopping at the Magdalen Islands, quite a few of 
them remain for the summer on various lonely 
islands along the coast of Maine, New Brunswick, 
and southern Nova Scotia. Owing to persecution, 
they are usually very cunning in concealing the 
whereabouts of the nests. They always cover them 
with a profusion of the soft ‘‘eider-down.’’ when 
they have occasion to leave. If a boat appears, they 
will even skulk from the weedy clumps or shelter- 
ing bush, slip down to the water’s edge and swim 
off under water. I remember once, as we rowed 
around a point of ‘‘No Man’s Land,” coming right 
upon a female Eider that had probably just left her 
nest somewhere up on the shore. At first she did 
not try to dive, and she was so near that I leaned 
over the side of the boat to lay hold of her. Im- 
minent danger brought her suddenly to herself, 
and the speedy plunge that followed was the last I 
ever saw of her. 
Once I caught the cunning Eider napping. It 
was on Green Island, off Mt. Desert. I was follow- 
ing a sort of grass-grown ledge, quite high up from 
the water, when I almost trod on a female Eider, 
sitting close. Her sudden start gave a decided, 
though pleasant, shock to my nerves. I found a 
bed of eider-down,—just as soft as it is reputed to 
PEMA 
