320 BRITISH BIRDS. 



far forward as the nostrils. The upper part of the 

 head is of a soft velvet black, divided behind by a 

 dull white stroke pointing downwards : the feathers, 

 from the nape of the neck to the throat, are long, 

 or puffed out, overhanging the upper part of the 

 neck, and look as if they had been clipped off at 

 the lower ends : they have the appearance of a pale 

 pea-green velvet shag, with a white line dropping 

 downward from the auriculars on each side. The 

 cheeks, chin, upper part of the neck, the back, and 

 lesser wing coverts, are white: the scapulars, and 

 secondary quills, next the body, dirty white : bas- 

 tard wings, and primary quills brown ; secondaries 

 and greater coverts the same, but much darker; 

 the lower broad part of the neck, on the front, to 

 the breast, is of a buff colour ; but in some speci- 

 mens, tinged with rusty red : the breast, belly, vent, 

 rump, and tail coverts are of a deep sooty black : 

 tail feathers hoary brown : legs short, and yellow : 

 webs and nails dusky. The female is nearly of 

 the same shape, though less than the male, weigh- 

 ing only between five and six pounds ; but her 

 plumage is quite different, the ground colour being 

 of a reddish brown, prettily crossed with waved 

 black lines ; and in some specimens the neck, 

 breast, and belly, are tinged with ash : the wings 

 are crossed with two bars of white ; quills dark : 

 the neck is marked with longitudinal dusky streaks, 

 and the belly is deep brown, spotted obscurely with 

 black. 



The Eider Duck lays from three to five large, 

 smooth, pale olive-coloured eggs : these she de- 

 posits and conceals in a nest, or bed, made of a 

 great quantity of the soft, warm, elastic down 



