WILD DUCKS AND DUCK DECOYING 153 



this time take long flights. In fact, the eider, 

 unlike most ducks, is not migratory at any season; 

 as at all others, the plumage of the male and female 

 birds is very dissimilar. In the former, the upper 

 part of the head is of a rich velvety black, while the 

 sharply-contrasting neck and back are of the purest 

 white ; beneath, the plumage is black. At the same 

 period the female is of a subdued rufus brown, with 

 more or less dark markings; the tail feathers are 

 now nearly black. 



The colonies of breeding eiders often consist of 

 an immense number of birds, and the nests lie so 

 thickly together that it is difficult to avoid stepping 

 into them. They are usually placed upon some 

 slight elevation; and here in any faint depression 

 the duck collects a small quantity of seaweed and 

 drift stuff, which she forms into a felty mass by 

 kneading it with her breast. Upon this four or five 

 eggs are laid in the course of a week; the eggs are 

 pale green, rather like those of the heron. Even 

 before the last egg is laid it is seen that a few feathers 

 are scattered about the nest, and as incubation pro- 

 ceeds these increase in quantity. For the sitting 

 bird covers her treasures over with down plucked 

 from her breast ; this she does day by day until a 

 very considerable quantity buries the eggs. It is 

 this down which has become such an important 

 article of commerce. If the eiders are sitting under 



