" Her subdued coloration is eminently useful to her whilst she is engaged in the dangerous work 



of incubation." 



THE EIDER DUCK 



T 



HIS is a purely maritime 

 species, and I have never 

 seen it more than a few 

 miles from the open sea, 

 and then it was nesting on 

 a number of small islands 

 situated in a large salt- 

 water loch. Although it 

 is sometimes seen in the English Channel, 

 and is common in the North Sea, it 

 does not breed anywhere south of the 

 Fames, with the exception of Coquet 

 Island near Warkworth, where I under- 

 stand it has recently re-established itself. 

 Round the Scottish coast, and in the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, it nests in 

 all suitable localities, but is not met 

 with in Ireland. This is strange, con- 

 sidering the fact that it is quite numer- 

 ous on the Island of Islay which is 



not twenty miles away as the crow 

 flies. 



The males and females differ very 

 radically in appearance, for whilst the 

 former in his wedding garments is a 

 conspicuous picture of black and white, 

 the latter is clad in a sober ccat of 

 pale reddish brown feathers, variegated 

 with tints of a darker hue. Thus her 

 subdue-d coloration is eminently useful 

 to her whilst she is engaged in the 

 dangerous work of incubation amongst 

 heather rocks and on dead seaweed. 



As some indication of the effects of 

 protection upon the habits of a wild bird, 

 it may be mentioned that there is a 

 greater difference in the behaviour of 

 an Eider Duck breeding on the Fame 

 Islands and one nesting in the Shetlands, 

 than there is between a wood-pigeon 



