THE AMERICAN EIDER 371 



Bill, eyes and feet as in the male. Length from 

 eighteen to twenty inches; extent about thirty 

 inches. 



THE AMERICAN EIDER. 



(Somateria dresseri.) 



This dweller of the cold north visits our 

 coasts only during the severest winter weather. 

 Even then it keeps to its feeding grounds 

 among the outer islands and in the open sea, 

 hence it is called the ''Sea Duck," and by this 

 title is best known to our gunners. 



Beneath the feathers the bird is covered with 

 a thick coat of down, (the eider-down of com- 

 merce, or some of it), which in the regions 

 where they breed is gathered from the nests as 

 it is supplied by the birds themselves. They 

 will even submit to being robbed twice, it is said, 

 but decline to furnish more if the spoiler makes 

 a third descent, then deserting the nest. The 

 birds use this down as a lining for the nests and 

 as a covering for the eggs, pulling the thick, 

 blanket-like mass over their treasures when 

 they leave them for a time to feed. In Ice- 

 land the people cut shallow holes in the turfy 

 edges near the sea, all around their homes, even 



