228 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA 



inches long by two wide, of a beautiful olive green, and very 

 smooth. Sometimes when left by the female for a short time, 

 they are covered with a mat of dry grass, and the highly prized 

 eider down, so elastic that a whole nest full may be squeezed in 

 the fist and then regain its original bulk. This down is dark slate 

 in color, having been plucked by the female from her breast. The 

 young are beautiful little creatures, can swim like a fish and tame 

 easily. 



Towards the last of October, the eiders begin to appear along 

 the Massachusetts coast, forming in large bodies off the rocky 

 capes. Good sport is had by gunners from Cape Ann in the win- 

 ter months. A good boat, with a man to sail it, can be hired at 

 Rockport or Gloucester, and if the day is pleasant, with wind to 

 westward, and a trifle rough, the sportsman may expect shooting. 

 These birds are also shot in the same manner as the various 

 Coots to be mentioned farther on. 



Somateria F-nig-ra.— Gray. Pacific Eider. 



Precisely like the last excepting a V shaped black mark on the 

 chin. Perhaps only a variety, Arctic and North Pacific coast. 



Somateria spcctabilis. — Boie. King Duck. King Eider. 



" Bill with broad squarish nearly vertical frontal processes bulg- 

 ing angularly out of line with culmen. Male in breeding attire 

 black, including a forked chin patch, a frontal band and small 

 space, round eye ; the neck and fore parts of the body, part of 

 interscapulars of wing coverts and of lining of wings, and a flush- 

 patch white, creamy on the jugulum, greenish on the sides of the 

 head ; crown and nape fine bluish ash. Female resembles the 

 common Eider in plumage, but the bill is different. Size of 

 last." {Cotees.) 



A more northern species than the preceding, with which how- 

 ever it is sometimes associated. South in v/inter on the coast to 

 New York and occasionally inland waters west to Lake Michigan. 



CEdemia a;, '/<;«;;«.— Swain. Black Scoter. Copper-Nose (male). Grey Coot 

 (female). 



Birds of this genus are distinguished by their peculiarly swollen 

 and brightly colored bills. The males are black with or without 



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