202 WILD-FOWL 



flocks off the shore. It is a swift flyer, expert diver, 

 a fish eater, and a tough and undesirable bird for the 

 table. The evolutions of this bird in the air are said 

 to be beautiful in the spring-time, when the males 

 chase the females about, and all dive from the air into 

 the water, and come up again one after the other, 

 there sometimes being a number of males in the chase. 

 In summer the old-squaw is almost dirty black. 



THE HARLEQUIN DUCK 



This is a rare North American duck, so named from 

 its fantastic markings. It is extremely rare, and of no 

 importance to sportsmen. Even that industrious orni- 

 thologist, Elliot, says he never saw one alive. 



THE EIDERS 



The eiders are noted for their down. They are all 

 great divers, and subsist on food which gives them the 

 fishy taste common to the coots. Lieutenant McConnell, 

 of the revenue cutter Bear, in a magazine article, speaks 

 of the eiderduck as " an excellent table bird/' They may 

 be to an arctic appetite, but such is not their reputation 

 on our coasts. The varieties are known as the common 

 eider; the American eider, which replaces the common 

 eider on a large portion of the Atlantic Coast ; the king 

 eider, and the Pacific eider. The Pacific eider is dis- 

 tinctly an Alaskan bird. The king eider is also an 

 arctic bird, but comes occasionally as far south as New 

 Jersey ; but it is not abundant. The king eider is the 

 largest of these birds, being almost an inch longer than 



