THE EIDER DUCK. 481 



white spot under the eye, was indeed one of the larger and 

 more robust Ducks on the river. In the mature male, the 

 red or bright orange bill has the base and the sides black; 

 the iris is yellow, and the feet are dark red. The female 

 and the young of the year, are dark brown or dusky, with 

 two spots of whitish on the cheek, white bar on the wing, 

 grayish under parts mottled with dusky, and black bill. In 

 the latter part of September, I have seen these Ducks in 

 large flocks on Lake Ontario. Their large black form, with 

 snow-white patch at the base of the wing, cannot be mis- 

 taken in flight. The Velvet Duck (CEdemia fused) breeds 

 from Labrador northward. 



The three species last described constitute a group of 

 Black Sea-Ducks, known on the Atlantic Coast in winter as 

 Coots. A curiously formed or fancy bill, swollen at the 

 base, broad and variously modified at the tip, and bright 

 parti-colored, is a marked characteristic; the plumage is 

 soft and velvety; the legs are placed far back in accom- 

 modation to their expert diving habits; and though emi- 

 nently Ducks of the ocean, diving for mollusks or fishes, 

 and seeking bays and estuaries only in the severest storms, 

 breeding from Labrador northward, they locate on fresh 

 waters a short distance from the sea. Like that of most 

 ocean Ducks, their flesh is not very palatable; and like our 

 more northern birds in general, they are common to both 

 the Old World and the New. 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



Our large rivers, bearing more or less north and south, 

 are all great highways of migration. So inviting an 

 avenue to the south is the great St. Lawrence, that in 

 the autumn, even the Eiders may be tempted to take that 

 route into the interior. The young of both the Common 

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