280 THE DIVING DUCKS 



British diving ducks, for even during the breeding season it remains 

 by the coast, unlike most ducks, which usually resort to fresh water 

 for this purpose. During the early summer of 1912 I visited a large 

 colony in Iceland on small islands in a river which must have been 

 at least ten or eleven kilometres from the sea. Probably in this case 

 the site was the attraction, for no doubt in past ages the Arctic foxes 

 played havoc with the nests of the birds which bred on the main- 

 land, and only those which bred on the islets in the lakes and rapid- 

 flowing rivers had much chance of bringing off their broods. 



Except where the birds are well protected, little is seen or heard 

 of the courtship of the eider. The scattered pairs which may be 

 found breeding on the west coast of Scotland seem to wish to avoid 

 observation as much as possible. But in the neighbourhood of the big 

 colonies in Northern Europe, the peculiar love-song of the males is a 

 very striking feature. A chorus of moaning notes, "wow, wouw,wouw," 

 rises from the fjord below us, where some thirty of the drakes are 

 floating, and dies away again only to be renewed time after time. 

 Dr. C. W. Towrisend, writing of the North American race, says that 

 where there were many eiders about the sound was almost constant. 

 It is something like the syllables " aah-ou " or " ah-ee-ou," frequently 

 repeated, and though low and pleading in tone, the volume of sound 

 from a large flock may be heard for a considerable distance over the 

 water. During courtship the drake frequently stands up in the water, 

 sometimes flapping his wings, and displaying his black frontal shield. 

 But the complete ritual of the courting attitudes is described by Dr. 

 Townsend as follows : " The head is drawn rigidly down, the bill resting 

 against the breast ; the head is then raised up until the beak points 

 vertically upwards, and at this time the bill may or may not be opened 

 to emit the love-notes. Directly after this the head is occasionally 

 jerked backwards a short distance still rigidly, and then returned 

 to its normal position." 1 All this takes place as the drake swims 

 near the duck, often facing her while she floats about indifferently, 



1 The Auk, 1910, p. 179. 



