ANATIN.K — THE DUCKS - SOMATKllIA. 



83 



The racitic Eider was found in large niuulx?r8 on the coast of Norton Wound 

 by Mr. E. Adama ("Ibis," 1S78, p. 4;{4). Its Esiiimo name is MU-lcok. The tirst 

 notic't'd near the redoubt of St. Miuhaid's was on the lOth of May; and soon ai't«'r 

 these birds beeanie quite numerous. They fre<^iiented all the marshes, but went 

 gtMicrally Hying about; they st'ldom alighted on a lake, but came straight in from the 

 sea, following the course of the rivers; and after taking a few turns alntut the 

 iiiarslu's, they again went out to sea. They soon fixed upon their breeding-idaces, 

 anil their nests were scattered over the whole of the marshes. One nest was within 

 thirty yards of the fort, in the midst of children and dogs — the parent bird having 

 built her nest and laid four eggs before she was discovered. Yet these Ducks are 

 very wary, and ditHcult to approach. On the wing they fly in a straight line, appear- 

 ing stupid, and often api)roachiiig within a few yards of the hunter. They are very 

 swift on the wing, and can carry off a great cpiantity of shot. Oiu' pair built their 

 nt'st in a swamjjy hollow k^tweon two snuiU lakes, and about twenty yards from one 

 of them ; this nest was })laced in the midst of tall grass, and built of rushes an<l 

 grass, and well lined with feathers and down. By the latter end of May this pair 

 had laid six eggs ; and the female then began to sit. The male assisted in building 

 the nest, but not in the process of incubation. While building they worked only 

 very early in the morning. When the female began to lay, both of them came in 

 fnmi seaward a little before noon, and after a few turns round, as if to see that all 

 was right, lx)th alighted in the lake. There they remained some little time, and 

 tiieu the fenude walked off to her nest; and very soon after her nuvte went out to sea. 

 In alxnit an hour he came back to the lake, and his mate then joined him; but she 

 was never known to leave her nest until she heard him cooing on the lake. They 

 remained there a short tinu', playing about and cooing, and then again went t)ut to 

 sea, and did not reiurn until the lu'xt day. When the female began to sit, her nuitt! 

 eanie in every day and took her out to sea, and again accompanied her to the lake ; 

 but was never seen to approach the nest. The eggs had JUJt been hatched at the time 

 Mr. Adams left the jilace. 



The principal food of this Eider is mussels and other small shellfish, for which it 

 (lives in from three to six fathoms of water. On one day Mr. Adams counted from 

 the fort two hundred and six of these birds feeding along the edge of the water in 

 the IJay ; and of the whole nund)er only four were females. Their note very much 

 resend)les the cooing of the European Wood i'igeon. 



Tins Duck is said sel(h)m to weigh less than four pounds, and .sometimes as nau-h 

 iis six. The eggs are generally six or seven in number, of a ])ale sea-green color, with 

 a tinge of olive. Eggs in the Smithsonian Collection, from Ander.son Kiver (No. 

 O.'iri), are of a uniform light grayish-green color, with an olive shade, and measure 

 from 2.1)o to '1.20 inches in length, and from 1.1)5 to 2.10 in breadth. 



Somateria spectabiliB. 



THE XIRO EIDEB. 



Anni> itpreM:iUs, Linn. S. N. p.1. 10, I. l/.-iS, 123 ; (il. 12, I. 17tm, ID.'i. 



Somnlfria sjicctnhilis, Hoik, ImIs, 1822, .Itil. — Sw. & Hull. V. H. A. II. 1S31, 447. — BAiiin, 11. N. 



Am. IS-W, 810 ; Cut. N. Am. H. IS."".!*, no. 608. — ('i)iKs, Kt-y, 1872, 2it:» ; Chcrk List, 1873, no. 



.MO ; 2il ed. 18 2, no. 73<1 ; B. N. W. 1874, 581. — Hntuw. Norn. N. Am. H. 188!, no. fl2U. 

 Fiiligitla (Simaterin) f))felal)ilia, BoNAI'. Syiiop. 1828. 38!>. — NlTT. Man. II. 1834, 414. 

 Fn/itjiiru s}wtU(hiliH, Aui). Oni. Biog. III. 1835, 523. i.I. 27rt ; Synop. 1839, 201 ; B. Am. VI. 1843, 



347. 1>1. 404. 

 Anaji Jhrimiii, Om. S. N. I. 1788, MH. 

 Aium mijwrlMi, Lkacii, Syst. Cat. 1810. 



