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the summer of 1839, brought back with him a brood of 

 young Eiders, which he reared, feeding them on slugs, 

 and the bodies of shelled mollusca. Several of these birds 

 are now alive at Knowsley. Eider, Eder, or Edder, is 

 the name applied to this Duck in Germany, Sweden, 

 Denmark, and Norway. It is found on the Faro Islands, 

 at Iceland, at Spitzbergen, and at Nova Zembla. Mr. 

 Scoresby observes that the specimens seen by him at Spitz- 

 bergen were smaller than those in the seas of Greenland. 

 To the westward these birds were noticed in Davis 1 Straits, 

 Baffin's Bay, and on each of the Arctic voyages performed 

 by Sir Edward Parry and others. The Eider Duck is 

 also found in the northern parts of North America, as 

 will be found by reference to the ornithological works of 

 Dr. Richardson, Mr. Audubon, and Wilson. 



In the adult male the beak is dusky green ; the nail 

 white ; the irides brown ; top of the head velvet black ; 

 lore and cheeks white; ear-coverts and occiput pale green; 

 back, scapulars, tertials, point of wing, and smaller wing- 

 coverts white ; greater wing-coverts black, wing primaries 

 and secondaries dull black ; the tertials elongated, and 

 falling partly over them ; rump black ; tail-feathers dull 

 black ; chin and upper part of neck in front white ; lower 

 part of neck pale buff; breast, belly, sides, and all the 

 under surface black, except a patch on the flank, which is 

 white ; legs, toes, and their membranes dusky green. 

 The whole length twenty-five inches. From the point 

 of the wing to the end of the longest quill-feather eleven 

 inches. 



Young males of the Eider are at first like the adult 

 female, but when changing in their first winter the head 

 and neck are mottled with two shades of dark brown, 

 with a few white feathers appearing through in different 



