194 



DUCKS, GEESE, AND SWANS 



best type for the Eider Group. Fortunately for our chances 

 of close acquaintance with it, this species occasionally pene- 

 trates westward along the great lakes to Illinois and Wisconsin 

 — a very unusual proceeding for a sea duck. Any bird which 



AMERICAN EIDER. 



will go so far out of its natural range in order to become ac- 

 quainted with interocean Americans surely is worth knowing. 

 Moreover, the Eider Duck of the Old World so closely re- 

 sembles this bird in all essential details that to know one 

 species is to know the other also. 



The colors of this bird are black and white, as shown in 

 the illustration, except that the nape and the rear portion of 

 the region around the ear are sea-green, and the tail and 



