168 BIRDS OF THE HUMBER DISTRICT. 



" The Wigeons shot on the Hull river are usually 

 male birds, either old or young ; a real mature female 

 is quite a rara avis." 



Like the Teal it is late in winter before the Wigeon 

 assumes his full breeding-plumage. They pair about 

 the middle of February*, and leave the Humber in 

 March. I have seen them on the river in the first 

 week in April. 



216. SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA (Linnaeus). Eider 

 Duck. 



This oceanic Duck occasionally occurs in small 

 numbers, principally young birds, at sea off the York- 

 shire and Lincolnshire coast in the autumn and 

 winter. Their appearance in the Humber is quite an 

 exceptional occurrence, being, along with other wild 

 fowl, driven in by stress of weather. 



Numerous on the Northumberland coast, where 

 they breed both at Coquet Island and on the Fame 

 Isles f. 



* On the 27th of January, 1869, 1 saw a flock of forty males, 

 all in full plumage, off the mouth of the Great-Cotes Creek. 

 On the 15th of February a large flock, seen near the same place, 

 was composed of males and females swimming in pairs. 



t These are the most southern breeding-stations of the Eider. 

 This Duck, as well as the allied species, & spectdbilis, nest very 

 far north. Both were found by Dr. Kane on the shores of the 

 open Polar Sea, near Mount Edward Parry, the most remote 

 northern land known on our globe. 



