EIDer. NATATORES. SOMATERIA. 341 
strength, and at the rate (as calculated) of more than ninety 
miles in the hour. When approached in a boat they gene- 
rally take wing whilst beyond gun-shot, and when suddenly 
surprized they dive ; but if actively pursued, and compelled 
to dive repeatedly, they may be so far tired.out as at last to 
be incapable of submerging with sufficient quickness to pre- 
vent a fatal aim being taken. In this manner I have often 
succeeded in procuring specimens; and the same mode, it 
appears, is in use amongst the Greenlanders, who strike them 
with their darts as they rise fatigued to the surface after 
long-continued pursuit. The trachea of the male bird is of 
equal diameter throughout its length, and composed of hard 
and perfect rings, lined with a membrane. The lower larynx, 
or bone of divarication, is enlarged in front, and furnished 
on the left side with an elevated, flatly globose, bony protu- 
berance, or labyrinth, about the size of a large nut. The 
bronchi are large, swelling much toward their middle, and 
composed of imperfect rings, united by a membrane. That 
on the left side, which proceeds from the tympanum, is of 
much larger diameter than the other, and both suddenly de- 
crease when they enter the substance of the lungs. Several 
attempts have been made to domesticate the Hider, but 
hitherto without much success; that it may be done with 
care and attention, I have no doubt, as I have twice suc- 
ceeded in rearing these birds from the egg, and preserving 
them alive till upwards of twelve months; but as I had no 
appropriate place for them at the time, they fell victims to 
accident, being trodden upon by horses or cattle. Indeed, 
their sluggish nature, or rather their inactivity upon land, 
renders their escape from any sudden danger a matter of 
great difficulty. I know also other instances in which they 
have been reared from the egg to maturity. The Eider 
Drake is long in reaching the adult state, that plumage not 
being perfected before the fourth year. This would seem, 
analogically reasoning, to indicate a great longevity, as we 
find the Eagle and some other birds that do not attain per- 
