460 HABITS. 



And even should it be driven from thence by the ice, it is 

 not supposed to retire to any considerable distance ; for so 

 soon as the ice breaks up it immediately reappears. Many, 

 however, would seem to winter on the coast of Jutland, 

 where the climate is somewhat less severe. Indeed, I myself 

 on one occasion saw myriads near Christmas time in the Little 

 Belt, which separates Jutland from the island of Fyen. 



In the winter time the eider keep together in very Jarge 

 flocks, which are composed as well of males as females ; and 

 at that time they are exceedingly shy. Towards the spring 

 they mostly separate into pairs, and in April are to be found 

 in the Skargard for the purpose of breeding. Until the 

 female has deposited her eggs, the male is always in her 

 company ; but when incubation begins, the males congregate, 

 and may be seen in numbers floating, as it were, in the 

 vicinity of the rocks and islets, where their mates are sitting. 

 Subsequently more especially during the moulting season, 

 which commences in June the males keep more out to sea, 

 when they become very difficult of approach. 



The plumage of the old male eider varies very much 

 according to the season of the year. Towards the autumn 

 he loses his brilliant dress, and becomes in great part black ; 

 and is, in fact, so altered in appearance as to be hardly recog- 

 nizable. The female, on the contrary, retains her brown 

 feathers all the year round, and very little, if any, difference 

 in plumage is observable with her, be the season what it 

 may. 



Unless disturbed, the eider appears to pass fully as much 

 of its time on land (or rather on the cold naked rocks just 

 above the surface of the sea, so common on the Scandinavian 

 coast) , as on the water ; for in such situations groups of these 



