2io Poachers and Poaching. 



this country ; these are the common eider, the 

 king eider, and Steller's eider. 



The British eiders are essentially sea ducks 

 rarely even entering rivers, and seldom roving 

 far inland. Occasionally found in our southern 

 seas, they become more numerous as we ascend 

 the east coast, until upon the Fames, off North- 

 umberland, we reach their most southern breeding 

 haunts. On Holy Island and Lindisfarne a few 

 pairs of St. Cuthbert's ducks have bred time out 

 of mind. Except during times of nesting, the 

 whole life of the bird seems spent upon the 

 element whence it derives its food crusta- 

 ceans, namely and this it always obtains by 

 diving. In their northern breeding haunts the 

 eiders begin to collect about the first week in 

 May, and by the end of the third week most of 

 the ducks have begun to lay. As soon as the 

 colony has got well about this business the 

 drakes leave the land, and for weeks may be 

 seen between the islands, or spreading them- 

 selves down the coast-line in search of favourite 

 feeding grounds. They never go far from the 

 ducks however, nor do they at this time take 

 long flights. In fact, the eider, unlike most 

 ducks, is not migratory at any season, and seldom 

 strays far from the spot where it was bred. 

 During the nesting season, as at all others, the 

 plumage of the male and female birds is very 

 dissimilar. In the former, the upper part of the 



