152 APPENDIX. 



A few Mxrc shot at Hecla Cove {Ajjp., p. 197). Scoresby 

 mentions that it is met with solitary, or in pairs near the ice 

 at very great distances from land, and that, when met with in I 

 great numbers, the presence of these birds is an intimation of ' 

 the proximity of land. 



SoMATERiA SPECTABiLis — King Eidcr-Duck. 



On an islet in Fair Haven this species was very abundant 

 in the summer of 1818. Captain (now Admiral) Beechey 

 gives the following very interesting account of its habits as 

 observed on this occasion. They were so numerous that it 

 was scarcely possible to walk without stepping on their nests. 

 " Could we have divested ourselves of all consideration for 

 the young birds, we might have filled sevei'al sacks with that 

 valuable commodity, eider-down, of which their nests were 

 composed. It was the period of incubation ; and we had 

 many opportunities of witnessing the determined manner in 

 which they defended their nests, frequently remaining upon 

 them until they were knocked over with sticks. Even the 

 burgermeister, strontj agger, sea-swallows, and other birds, 

 which were always hovering about and watching for oppor- 

 tunities of devouring the eggs or the young birds, dared not 

 molest the ducks whilst upon their nests, and could only 

 secure their prey when foxes or some of the larger animals 

 drove them into the sea. A practice, common to these birds, ■ 

 which I have not seen mentioned in their history, marks the 

 provision which nature has made against some of the casual- 

 ties to which their species are liable, and from which the 

 young might be destroyed in their embryo state by the 

 parents being kept away from their nests in so cold a cli- 

 mate. A^^hen immediate danger compelled them to seek 

 their own safety in flight, they hastily drew the down of the 

 nest over the eggs, and glued it there with a yellow fluid, 

 which they deposited as they arose. This precaution not 

 only kept in the warmth of the eggs, by interposing between 



