EIDER DUCK. 343 



points. Farther to the eastward they become more and more plentiful, 

 until you reach Labrador, to which thousands of pairs annually resort, to 

 breed and spend the short summer. Many, however, proceed much far- 

 ther north ; but, as usual, I will here confine myself to my own observa- 

 tions. 



In the latter part of October 1832, the Eiders were seen in consider- 

 able numbers in the Bay of Boston. A large bagful of them was brought 

 to me by a fisherman-gunner in my employ, a person advanced in years, 

 formerly a brave tar, and one whom I feel some pride in telling you I 

 assisted in obtaining a small pension from our government, being sup- 

 ported in my application by two of my Boston friends, the one the gene- 

 rous George Parkman, M. D., the other that great statesman John 

 QuiNCEY Adams. The old man had once served under my father, and 

 to receive a bagful of Eider Ducks from him was a gratification which 

 you may more easily conceive than I can describe. Well, there were the 

 ducks, all turned out on the floor ; young males stiU resembUng their 

 mother, others of more advanced age, and several males and females com- 

 plete in all their parts, only that the bills of the former had lost the orange 

 tint, which that part exhibits during a few weeks of the breeding season, 

 Twenty-one there were in all, and they had been killed in a single day by 

 the veteran and his son. Those masterly gunners told me, that to pro- 

 cure this species, they were in the habit of anchoring their small vessel 

 about fifty yards off the rocky isles round which these birds harbour and 

 feed at this season. There, while the birds were passing on wing, al- 

 though usually in long lines, they could now and then kill two of them at 

 a shot. Sometimes the King Eider was also procured under similar cir- 

 cumstances, as the two species are wont to associate together during win- 

 ter. At Boston the Eiders sold that winter at from fifty to seventy-five 

 cents the pair, and they are much sought after by Epicures. 



On the 31st of May 1833, my son and party killed six Eiders on the 

 island of Grand Manan, off the Bay of Fundy, where the birds were 

 seen in considerable numbers, and were just beginning to breed. A nest 

 containing two eggs, but not a particle of down, was found at a distance 

 of more than fifty yards from the water. 



Immediately after landing on the coast of Labrador, on the 18th of 

 June in the same year, we saw a great number of " Sea Ducks," as the 

 gunners and fishermen on that coast, as well as on our own, call the Eiders 

 and some other species. On visiting an island in " Partridge Bay," we 



