THE COMMON EIDER DUCK. m 



crowded the guano-whitened rocks ; and the mothers, with long necks and gaping 

 yellow bills, swooped above the peaceful shallows of the Eiders, carrying off the 

 young birds, seemingly just as their wants required. The Gull would gobble up 

 and swallow a young Eider in less time than it takes me to describe the act. For 

 a moment you would see the paddling feet of the poor little wretch protruding from 

 the mouth ; then came a distension of the neck as it descended into the stomach ; 

 a few moments more and the young Gulls were feeding on the ejected morsel." 



Eiders have been successfully reared in the Shetlands and the Hebrides, the eggs 

 having been carefully placed under domestic poultry, and Saxby says, the ducklings 

 thrive well upon the usual food of the foster parent, but they always greedily 

 enjoy a meal of small periwinkles or young crabs. 



Mr. W. H. St. Quintin, of Scampston Hall, Yorkshire, has been a successful 

 breeder of Eiders, some very interesting particulars of which he has communicated 

 to Sir R. Payne-Gallwey, ("Letters to Young Shooters," 3rd Series, p. 173). One 

 old Duck has nested since 1889, laying every year usually three and once four 

 eggs ; and then he mentions the very extraordinary fact " that for several seasons, 

 and for all I know always, my old Eider sits the whole twenty-eight days 

 without leaving the nest ! " Food and water, specially arranged, were placed near 

 her, but never known to be touched, and were finally removed altogether. 



The food of the Eider consists of mussels, all sorts of shell-fish, particularly 

 periwinkles and cockles, crabs, the great spider-crab, star- fish. The crabs swallowed 

 are often of considerable size, measuring two inches across the carapace, the 

 stomach also often contains sand and gravel. The Eider is not generally considered 

 a delicacy, but Mr. Graham, the sportsman-naturalist, formerly of lona, considered 

 them better eating than most other maritime Ducks ; they seem, he says, " to feed 

 almost entirely on sea- weed, browsing at the bottom in deep water." 



The cry of the female is a harsh croak ; the male is a very silent bird. In 

 " Science Gossip," Dec., 96, there is a very interesting paper on the Eider Duck 

 as observed by the author, Mr. Robert Godfrey, in the Firth of Forth, when 

 wandering on the dunes by night, or in the dim light of morning, he has heard 

 a strange moaning cry coming up from the sea ; by the full light of day he heard 

 the same moaning from the flocks of Eider floating on the sea. This moan 

 resembled " a/t-woe-o-a-woo," and there was another note often repeated " whee-whee- 

 w/iee." The former cry is much like the song of Harelda. 



The Eider is a very heavy, clumsy-looking bird, with a big head ; on the 

 wing, however, it progresses with great rapidity, it is also a good diver and even 

 keeps underneath for a considerable period when on the feed. From the shortness 

 of the tarsi it is a very poor walker on land. 



VOL. IV. 2 F 



