NESTS IN FRESH WATEB. 



It is, I believe, a commonly received opinion that the 

 Eider in a wild state confines itself altogether to tin- 

 ocean. But this would not seem always to be the case, 

 for when, during the present autumn, I was staving with 

 M. Stromberg at Sjobohl, near Falkenberg, on the south- 

 west coast of Sweden, I was assured by him that the 

 Eider has been repeatedly shot in Rams/on, a fresh-water 

 lake, now partially drained, in the immediate vicinity of 

 his house, and at a distance, as the crow flies, of some 

 three (English) miles from the sea. He also assured me 

 that the nest of this bird has not unfrcquently been met 

 with by himself and others in the extensive peat-bogs 

 surrounding the lake. 



E-amsjon, it should be remarked, lies sonic ten to 

 twelve feet above the level of the sea, with which (except- 

 ing by means of a canal recently cut to carry oil' its 

 superfluous waters) it has no communication whatever. 

 Its waters, nevertheless, are said to be in some degree 

 brackixli, and when very low, a slight crust of salt, or of a 

 substance resembling it, is observable on such parts of the 

 bottom of the lake as are left dry. 



The Eider, like the wild swan and the Lonir-t ailed 

 ITareld, does not seem in any way ail'eeted by cold, how- 

 ever great it may be, and unless the sea is entirely I'm/en 

 over, remains on the coast during the whole winter. 

 Even should it be driven from thence by the ice, it is not 

 supposed to remove to any considerable distance, for as 

 soon as the frost breaks up it immediately returns to its 

 old haunts. Many \\inter in the Danish seas, where the 

 climate is somewhat less severe. I myself, on one occa- 

 sion, saw myriads of these birds about Christmas time 

 in the Little 15elt, or that separating Jutland from the 

 island of Funen. 



During the \\inter, the Kider keep together in very 

 (locks, composed a- \\cll ol males as females, and at 



