THE COMMON EIDER DUCK. l i l 



it is replaced by the Pacific Eider, fSomateria v. nigrum) ', and on the Labrador coast 

 by another distinct species, (S. dresseri). It has not been observed on the coasts 

 of Eastern Siberia. Mr. H. L. Popham found them, but in no great numbers, 

 near the mouth of the Yenisei, how much further eastward it ranges is uncertain. 



The Common Eider, twenty years since, was numerous on the North Frisian 

 Islands, Sylt and Amrum, and large numbers of eggs were gathered for consumption. 

 It is a frequent visitor off Heligoland in winter, in flocks of twenty to fifty, com- 

 posed mostly of grey birds and an occasional white male ; these may come from 

 Sylt which, on the European coast, is the most southern nesting place. In winter 

 a few visit the south and south-east coasts of England and the opposite coast of 

 the Continent. According to Dr. Giglioli it has twice occurred as a wanderer to 

 Italy, and an adult male on May yth, 1859, at Trau, near Spalato, in Dalmatia. 

 A few winter every year on the coast of East Prussia. 



In high northern latitudes, Eider farming, as it is called, is a lucrative occu- 

 pation, and every care is taken to protect the birds. The various islands on the 

 coast where these Ducks resort are rented from the Crown. The eggs are gathered 

 for consumption, but the valuable production is the celebrated Eider down, the 

 lightest, warmest, and most elastic material in the world. The nests are made of 

 dead grasses and dry plants, mixed with seaweed, and the pale olive and some- 

 times dark green eggs, after the full complement is laid, are buried in the down 

 from the breast of the sitting bird. This, when incubation commences, becomes 

 loose and is easily detached from the bird's breast. The nests are placed in nooks 

 and corners of the rocks, in some slight hollow, or amongst sea-loving plants and 

 heather, and not unfrequently at the foot of a wall or the side of a building. The 

 sitting birds are so tame that I have sometimes stooped and stroked their backs, 

 the female not leaving the nest but turning her head and opening her bill, with 

 a make-believe attempt to bite.* The eggs are both light and dark green, and 

 large ; usually four to five, I have found seven and heard of nine in a nest, and 

 ten and sixteen when the nest is used 1 by two birds, a not unfrequent circumstance. 

 Sometimes the nests are placed in very exposed situations, on bare flat rocks. 

 The colour of the female is partly protective, and I have more than once almost 

 trodden on the close sitting bird. The male takes no part in incubation, but 

 they keep together in the vicinity at sea, and before assuming the eclipse dress are 

 very conspicuous objects in their handsome and very distinct plumage of brown, 

 black and white, suffused with rich buff, and relieved by the pale green patches 

 on the nape. Old males are in full plumage early in the year. 



* Mr. A. Trevor-Battye, ("Ibis" 1897, p. 585) says, "If, however, an Eider (or for that matter a Long-tailed 

 Duck) is driven hurriedly off her eggs she invariably squirts over them a stinking fluid." 



