IS4 EIDER AND KING DUCK. 



down, which forms, in many of the regions, a confiderable article of 

 commerce. Mofh Ducks pluck off a certain down to form its neft t 

 thefe have the greatefl quantity, and the fineft and moft elaftic. It 

 is cuftomary in forfie places to take away the firfl: eggs, which oc- 

 cafions a feeond laying, and a fecond deplumation. In Greenland' 

 they lay among the grafs ; in Sweden among the juniper bufhes. Na-^ 

 ture hath furnifhed them with fo warm a cloathing, that they brave 

 the feverefl: winter, even of the ArElic regions. In Greenland, they 

 are feen in that feafon by hundreds, or even thoufands, in the fhel- 

 tered fouthern bays : their breeding-places are in the mod northern. 

 They take their young on their backs inftantly to fea, then dive, to 

 fhake them off and teach them to fliift for themfelves. It is faid^. 

 that the males are five years old before they come to their full color 1 

 that they live to a great age j and will at length grow quite grey^ 

 They are conftant to their breeding-places ; a pair has been ob- 

 ferved to occupy the fame neft twenty years. They dive to great 

 depths for their food,, which is fhells of all kinds.. The Greenlanders 

 kill them with darts ; purfue them in their little boats ; watch theic 

 courfe (when they dive) by the air-bubbles ;, and ftrike them when 

 they arife wearied. The fiefh is valued as a food. The fliin of this- 

 and the next fpecies is the moft valuable of all, as a garment placed: 

 next to the flcin. 



48 J. KiNc- Grey-headed Duck, Ed-uf-. 154. — Anas Sps£lahiiis, Eaun. Suec, N" 112. — La^^ 



tham, iii. —Lev. Mva. 



"With a red bill, extending higbup the forehead on each fide^-, 

 -. in form of a broad beanrfhaped plate : head,, and part of the 

 hind part of the neck, light grey,, bounded by a line of black dots: 

 cheeks and neck, as low as the grey color, pea-green : a narrow,- 

 black line from the bar of the bill bounds the lower part of the; 

 cheeks : throat, neck, and breaft, white : back, belly,, and taijj, 

 black : leffer coverts of the wings, and primaries, dufky brown : fe-- 

 sondari,e& black, gloffed with rich purple j coverts above them form: 



. 7 a great; 



