BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



89 



DUCK, EIDER. 



(Somateria mollissima.) 

 Order ANSERES ; Family ANATID^: (DUCKS).' 



Description ofParentBirds. 

 Length about twenty-five 

 inches. Bill moderately long, 

 thick at the base, straight, 

 and dirty green, whitish at 

 the tip. Irides brown. The 

 top of the head, including 

 the parts round and on a 

 level with the eyes, velvety 

 black, turning to a palish 

 green on the ear-coverts and 

 back of the head. Neck, 

 back, wing - coverts, and 

 scapulars white. Some of 

 the coverts are elongated, and curved at the ends 

 falling over the quills ; greater coverts, and quills 

 black. Rump black, tail-feathers brownish-black. 

 The lower part of the neck is white, tinged with 

 buff . Breast, belly, and under-parts black ; flanks 

 patched with white. Legs, toes, and webs dusky- 

 green ; claws dusky. 



The female is somewhat smaller, and her 

 plumage is of pale reddish-brown colour, variegated 

 with brownish-black. 



Situation and Locality. On the ground amongst 

 coarse grass, in heather, in clefts of rock, and 

 sometimes on collections of seaweed, amongst 

 shingle, on rocky islands, and on the coast at 

 suitable places round Scotland, in the Orkneys 

 and Shetlands, and at the Fame Islands, the only 



YOUNG EIDER DUCK. 



