I9-S BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



the Ducks in this sub-family habitually dive for 

 their food, and their movements in the water are 

 remarkably agile. The sexes generally present 

 considerable difference in colour, the males, as 

 usual, being the most handsome and conspicuous. 

 The young are always hatched covered with down, 

 and soon able to accompany their parents on the 

 water. The females have a single moult in autumn, 

 but the males a partially double one. Diving 

 Ducks, in fact all species in the family, in first 

 plumage, closely resemble the old female, and 

 acquire the adult plumage after the first autumn 

 moult. We will deal first with the resident species, 

 as being constant features in the bird life of the 

 coast and sea. 



EIDER DUCK. 



No Duck is more thoroughly attached to the sea 

 than this species, the Anas mollissima of Linnaeus 

 and Latham, but the Somateria mollissima of most 

 modern ornithologists. Unfortunately it is some- 

 what restricted in its distribution, only breeding in 

 one locality on the English coast, occurring more or 

 less accidentally elsewhere. Ireland is not even so 

 fortunate, for no nesting station is known round the 

 entire coastline of the island. The Eider Duck is 

 a decidedly northern bird, and is found, if somewhat 

 locally, round the coasts of Scotland, extending to 

 the outlying islands, including St. Kilda, where I 

 have taken its nest. To most people, perhaps, the 

 down of the Eider Duck, in the form of a coverlet, 



