484 Anatidce. 



which materially assists their progress under water. At their 

 head in the British list stands the Eider Duck, which well 

 deserves to occupy that post of honour. This large and hand- 

 some species abounds in Northern Europe and America, where 

 its well-known down forms a most valuable article of traffic to 

 the inhabitants : so compressible and elastic, so soft and light is 

 this famous down, that a large quantity which I brought from 

 Norway, and which when unpacked was enough to fill four 

 quilts, was easily squeezed into a hat-box for the convenience of 

 transport. On the northern shores of England, and in Scotland, 

 it is commonly met with, but is rarely seen on our more southern 

 coasts ; so that I the more marvel what fortunate accident has 

 enabled me to add it to our Wiltshire list. But an undoubted 

 specimen of this bird was killed a few years back on the water at 

 Lyneham, the property of Major Heneage, and is still to be seen 

 in the Hall at Compton Basset House; and Mr. Grant reports 

 another killed at Bottlesford, near Woodborough, in March, 1866. 

 It is, however, notorious for very powerful flight, and the speed 

 at which it flies is marvellous Montagu says at the rate of ninety 

 miles an hour but on land it is very inactive and sluggish. The 

 beak has a thick swollen appearance, is elevated at the base, and 

 is terminated with a strong rounded hooked nail. The generic 

 name, somateria, literally means ' body- wool,' from aw^a-ro^, ' of 

 the body/ and epiov, ' wool/ in allusion to the down which the 

 bird plucks from its breast for the lining of the nest ; and that it 

 is mollissima, 'most soft/ will be readily admitted. It is still 

 known on the coast of Durham and Northumberland as 'St. 

 Cuthbert's duck.' The true home of the Ejder Gas, or ' Eider 

 Goose,' as ifc is there called, is on the islands off the north- 

 western coast of Norway, called Fugle veer, or ' Bird preserves/ 

 where they are strictly protected. Like the Swan, the Eider 

 does not seem to be in any manner affected by the cold ; and, 

 unless the sea is frozen over, it remains on the coast during the 

 whole winter. Indeed, it has been observed in the highest 

 latitudes. Professor Newton says it ' breeds abundantly in Spitz- 

 bergen, 1 and Reinhardt that 'it breeds in Greenland.' Captain 



