DUCKS 21 19 



in numbers on the Kara Sea, and breeding in Nova Zembla, Northern Russia, 

 and all through North Siberia, this duck is mainly marine in its habits, feeding 

 on mollusks, crustaceans, and small fishes, in search of which it dives with remarka- 

 ble expertuess. During the breeding season it resorts, however, to fresh waters, 

 on the margins of which its nests are constructed among low bushes. The note of 

 the male is loud, but almost indescribable in words; and when flying the mem- 

 bers of this sex are said to present an exceedingly-graceful appearance, moving 

 with very rapid strokes of the wings, with the long tail feathers floating behind. 



Well known on account of the beautiful soft down collected from 



their nests, the eiders, Somateria, are best characterized by the elon- 

 gated scapulars and emerald or pale green markings on the heads of the males, these 

 two characteristics serving to distinguish them from other diving ducks. Both 

 sexes may be recognized by the beak being shorter than the head, and swollen and 

 elevated at the base, with small and lateral nostrils, but more especially by the 

 feathers of the forehead extending downward nearly to the nostrils between its 

 divided upper portion. Generally, the prevailing colors of the plumage of the males 

 are black and white. The eiders are now represented by six well-defined species, 

 confined to the northern regions of the Old World, three of which occur in the 

 British Islands, although two are more occasional visitors. The common or true 

 eider (S. mollissima) , which is mainly confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, and is 

 the only resident British species, may be recognized by the upper part of the back 

 and scapulars of the male being white in the breeding plumage, while the top of the 

 head and under parts are black; the female being pale rufous brown, with darker 

 markings. Young males are at first like the females; but in the first year, as shown 

 in the upper figures of our illustration on next page, the wing coverts and second- 

 aries become white, and in the third year the full plumage is assumed. In summer, 

 with the second molt, old males become almost black. In the king eider (S. speda- 

 bilis], which is circumpolar, although but a rare visitor to Britain, the male in breed- 

 ing plumage has the upper part of the back white, but the elongated scapulars 

 black, and also a black chevron on the throat with its apex on the chin. On the 

 other hand, in the handsome Steller's eider (S. stelleri], which is a still more ex- 

 clusively-Arctic bird, the adult male in nuptial plumage has the whole back black, 

 the long scapulars white on their inner, and bluish black on their outer webs, and a 

 bluish-black collar on the neck. 



All the eiders are exclusively dwellers on rocky coasts, where they 



subsist mainly on mollusks and crustaceans; and while they are birds 

 of slow and heavy, although powerful flight, and are at the same time clumsy 

 walkers on land, in the sea, which is their true home, they are most expert divers 

 and swimmers. Iceland and the Farn islands are well-known breeding resorts of 

 the common eider; and the following account of a colony on a small island near the 

 former locality is taken from Mr. C. W. Sheppard. On landing, that observer 

 writes, " the ducks and their nests were everywhere. Great brown ducks sat upon 

 their nests in masses, and at every step startled from under our feet. It was with 

 difficulty we avoided treading on some of the nests. On the coast of the opposite 

 shore was a wall built of large stones, just above the high- water level, about three 



