EIDER. NATATORES. SOMATERIA. 341 



strength, and at the rate (as calculated) of more than ninety 

 miles in the hour. When approached in a boat they gene- 

 rally take wing whilst beyond gun-shot, and when suddenly 

 surprized they dive ; but if actively pursued, and compelled 

 to dive repeatedly, they may be so far tired out as at last to 

 be incapable of submerging with sufficient quickness to pre- 

 vent a fatal aim being taken. In this manner I have often 

 succeeded in procuring specimens ; and the same mode, it 

 appears, is in use amongst the Greenlanders, who strike them 

 with their darts as they rise fatigued to the surface after 

 long- continued pursuit. The trachea of the male bird is of 

 equal diameter throughout its length, and composed of hard 

 and perfect rings, lined with a membrane. The lower larynx, 

 or bone of divarication, is enlarged in front, and furnished 

 on the left side with an elevated, flatly globose, bony protu- 

 berance, or labyrinth, about the size of a large nut. The 

 bronchi are large, swelling much toward their middle, and 

 composed of imperfect rings, united by a membrane. That 

 on the left side, which proceeds from the tympanum, is of 

 much larger diameter than the other, and both suddenly de- 

 crease when they enter the substance of the lungs. Several 

 attempts have been made to domesticate the Eider, but 

 hitherto without much success; that it may be done with 

 care and attention, I have no doubt, as I have twice suc- 

 ceeded in rearing these birds from the egg, and preserving 

 them alive till upwards of twelve months ; but as I had no 

 appropriate place for them at the time, they fell victims to 

 accident, being trodden upon by horses or cattle. Indeed, 

 their sluggish nature, or rather their inactivity upon land, 

 renders their escape from any sudden danger a matter of 

 great difficulty. I know also other instances in which they 

 have been reared from the egg to maturity. The Eider 

 Drake is long in reaching the adult state, that plumage not 

 being perfected before the fourth year. This would seem, 

 analogically reasoning, to indicate a great longevity, as we 

 find the Eagle and some other birds that do not attain per- 



