120 The Water-fowl Family 



of the inhabitants, and will allow themselves to 

 be lifted from their eggs without a struggle. 



The sea-ducks are very hardy birds, some of 

 them spending the winter on the ocean, not very 

 far from the Arctic circle, cold apparently not 

 troubling them in the least, as long as food is 

 abundant and water sufficient for their needs 

 remains unfrozen. The sexes differ in plumage, 

 that of the male being often very handsome. A 

 metallic speculum on the wing is rare. In many 

 species the males assume in summer a dull plu- 

 mage resembling the female, as do the river-ducks, 

 this plumage persisting for only a few weeks. 

 There is wide variation between the different 

 members of this family. While the scoters are 

 black and white with brightly colored bills, the 

 males and females differing little, the eiders, with 

 strangely shaped bills, are black and white in the 

 male, and brown in the female. Both of these 

 groups are large and clumsy. Contrasting with 

 them we find the small and graceful old squaw, 

 with its long central tail feathers, and the little 

 ruddy duck, its tail feathers long and stiff, and 

 the male colored bright red. The Labrador 

 duck, which occurred formerly on the coasts of 

 New England and the Middle states, was a near 

 relative of the eiders. 



A strange species of sea-duck living in South 

 America is known as the steamer-duck, because 



