610 



Til E COMMON EIDER. 



Steller's Duck (Polysticta stelleri) is a very rare bird at present, and is, seemingly, 

 gradually coming to the same fate as the preceding species. It is a striking bird in its mark- 

 ings, nearly as much so as the harlequin. It inhabits the Arctic and high northern coasts of 

 both hemispheres. 



Audubon describes this as Western Duck, and says : '• This beautiful Duck, which was dis- 

 covered by Steller, on the northwestern coast of America, has never been known to inhabit our 

 Atlantic shores. So very rare, indeed, is it, that all my exertions to get a specimen have failed." 



As it is found in England occasionally, Audubon made his figure from a specimen in the 

 Norwich, England, Museum. 



It is a small Duck, being only sixteen inches in length. 



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EIDER DUCK.— Somateria mollmima. 



Tut" Eider Duck is only a winter visitant to the more northern portions of Europe. 



This bird is widely celebrated on account of the exquisitely soft and bright down which 

 the parent plucks from its breast and lays over the eggs during the process of incubation. 

 Taking these nests is with some a regular business, not devoid of risk on account of the pre- 

 cipitous localities in which the Eider Duck often breeds. 



The Common- Eider (Somateria mollis sima) inhabits both hemispheres. With us its 

 breeding-range readies south from the Arctics to Maine, where it is called Squam Duck. 



Wilson says : " The quantity of down found in one nest more than filled the crown of a hat, 

 yet weighed no more than three-quarters of an ounce; and it is asserted that two pounds of 



