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 THE EIDER DUCK. 



FULIGULA MOLLISSIMJ, BoNAP. 

 PLATE CCXLVI. Male and Female. 



The history of this remarkable duck must ever be looked upon with 

 great interest by the student of nature. The depressed form of its body, 

 the singular shape of its bill, the beautiful colouring of its plumage, the 

 value of its down as an article of commerce, and the nature of its haunts, 

 render it a very remarkable species. Considering it as such, I shall en- 

 deavour to lay before you as full an account of it as I have been able to 

 obtain from my own observation. 



The fact that the Eider Duck breeds on our eastern coasts, must be 

 interesting to the American Ornithologist, whose fauna possesses but few 

 birds of this family that do so. The Fuligulae are distinguished from all 

 other ducks that feed in fresh or salt water, by the comparative shortness 

 of the neck, the greater expansion of their feet, the more depressed form 

 of their body, and their power of diving to a considerable depth, in order 

 to reach the beds on which their favourite shelly food abounds. Their 

 flight, too, differs from that of the true ducks, inasmuch as it is performed 

 nearer the surface of the water. Rarely, indeed, do the Fuligulae fly at 

 any considerable height over that element, and with the exception of three 

 species, they are rarely met with inland, unless when driven thither by 

 storms. They diff"er, moreover, in their propensity to breed in commu- 

 nities, and often at a very small distance from each other. Lastly, they 

 are in general more ready to abandon their females, the moment incuba- 

 tion has commenced. Thus the female is left in a state of double respon- 

 sibility, which she meets, however, with a courage equal to the occasion, 

 although alone and unprotected. 



The Eider is now seldom seen farther south along our eastern coast 

 than the vicinity of New York. Wilson says they are occasionally ob- 

 served as far as the Capes of Delaware ; but at the present day this must 

 be an extremely rare occurrence, for the fishermen of the Jerseys informed 

 me that they knew nothing of this duck. In Wilson's time, however, 

 it bred in considerable numbers, from Boston to the Bay of Fundy, and 

 it is still to be met with on the rocky shores and islands between these 



