DUCKS. 355 



square apartments for the ducks to nest in. Almost every compartment was 

 occupied, and as we walked along the shore a long line of ducks flew out, one 

 after the other. The surface of the water also was perfectly white with drakes, 

 who welcomed their brown wives with loud and clamorous cooing. The house 

 itself was a marvel The earthen walls that surrounded it, and the window- 

 embrasures were occupied by ducks. On the ground the house was fringed with 

 ducks. On the turf slopes of its roof we could see ducks, and a duck sat on the 

 door-scraper. The grassy banks had been cut into square patches, about 18 

 inches having been removed, and each hollow had been filled with ducks. A 

 windmill was infested, and so were all the outhouses, mounds, rocks, and crevices. 

 The ducks were everywhere. Many were so tame that we could stroke them on 

 their nests; and the good lady told us that there was scarcely a duck on the 

 island that would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear." In all 

 cases the eiders build on the ground, and their not very numerous eggs are of 

 some shade of green. In Labrador, where the numbers of these valuable birds 

 have been greatly reduced by "eggers," Mr. A. S. Packard, writing of his 

 experiences many years ago, observes that in the middle of June " all the eiders 

 were busy in making their nests and in laying their eggs, The old or completed 

 nests contained a great mass of down, and were twelve to fifteen inches in outside 

 diameter s the downy moss in which the eggs sank being five or six inches high , 

 the newer nests were without down ; and there were about five eggs to a nest. 

 Most of the nests which we saw were built on low land near pools, and not far 

 from the sea- water, in a dense thicket of dwarf spruce-trees." The species referred 

 to in this account is the American eider (S. dresseri), which differs from the 

 common kind by the greater convexity of the beak, and the greater development 

 of the elongated scapulars. The nest is formed of seaweed, lined with down from 

 the body of the female bird ; the lining being gradually added -during the month 

 occupied by incubation, till at length it reaches such an amount as to completely 

 conceal the eggs. The product of down yielded by a single nest is about one-sixth 

 of a pound; the local value of the commodity varying from twelve to fifteen 

 shillings per pound. Although such thoroughly gregarious birds at all seasons, it 

 is somewhat remarkable that the males of none of the eiders take any share in the 

 work of incubation. 



The pied Labrador duck (S. labradoria) is a species which may be included 

 among the eiders, although frequently referred to a distinct genus (Camptolcemus). 

 A handsome bird, formerly abundant on the coast of Labrador and the mouth of 

 the St. Lawrence, it appears to have become extinct since 1852. 



The black marine ducks known as scoters, derive their scientific 

 title (CEdemia) from their swollen or basally tuberculate beaks, 

 which are deep, large, and strong, with the tip much depressed, and entirely covered 

 by the large, flat nail ; the oval and lateral nostrils being placed near the middle 

 of the beak. The wings are pointed and rather short, and the graduated tail is 

 likewise short and pointed. Placed relatively far back on the body, the legs are 

 noticeable for the shortness of the metatarsus; while the large feet are char- 

 acterised by the second toe being fully as long as the third. In the males the 

 colour is black, with or without white on the head or wing ; while in the females 



