Vol. XXXIl 



1914 



] TowNSEND, Conservation of the Eider. 15 



result of their winter's work, cruise along the coast in sail-boat and 

 canoe and feast on the Eider eggs and flesh. 



In 1909 Mr. A. C. Bent and I found the ground about the In- 

 dians' encampments covered with Eider egg shells, and we saw Eider 

 flesh being dried and smoked by the fires. Two men, who were 

 ranging over the islands with pails had collected a hundred eggs 

 in less than an hour's time. William Brewster described the 

 method used by these Indians in 1881, — "They skirt the shores 

 in canoes, keeping as close to land as the depth of water will permit. 

 Meanwhile their dogs scent about among the trees quartering the 

 ground like trained setters, and when a nest is discovered announce 

 the fact by loud barking. The nests are usually within a few rods 

 of the water, and the scent of the dogs is so keen that they rarely 

 pass one. If the sitting bird can be caught or shot the opportunity 

 is seldom neglected, for the half starved Indian neither knows nor 

 respects considerations of mercy, or, perhaps we should call it 

 policy, — which restrain more enlightened sportsmen on such 

 occasions. Proceeding thus two men in a canoe will frequently 

 ransack twenty miles of coast-line in a single day and find, proba- 

 bly, nearly every eider nest. The result of this systematic perse- 

 cution cannot be doubtful or long delayed." 



Mr. Abbott Frazer, who was in Southern Labrador in 1884 said of 

 this bird, " They are persecuted with relentless energy by both man 

 and beast from the time they arrive up to the time they leave, and 

 the countless hoards that once inhabited this coast are fast disap- 

 pearing, and it will not be long before the Eider of Southern Labra- 

 dor, like the Eider of Grand Manan will be but a memory of the 

 past." 



It is natural that the fishermen and Indians should act thus, 

 for Eider eggs are delicious eating and the flesh of the birds, at least 

 of the female and young, is equally palatable. Both are generous 

 in the amount of nourishment furnished. But these people are 

 killing the goose that lays the golden egg, and the time is not far 

 distant, where such methods prevail, before the Eider will be no 

 more. 



There is no reason why the Eider, which furnishes the valuable 

 Eider-down of commerce, should not be made a source of consider- 

 able income, without any reduction of its natural abundance. 



