176 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



By Robert Godfrey. 



'IpHE eider duck, Somateyia mollissima, is a resident 

 in the Firth of Forth, occurring in varying 

 numbers about the islands and near certain por- 

 tions of the shore. During winter this species 

 frequents the open sea and is seldom met with 

 near the coast line, but as the breeding season 

 approaches, the eiders gather at their time-honoured 

 haunts along the southern shore of the Firth and 

 about the May Island, Bass Rock and other known 

 resorts. From St. Abb's Head to Aberlady they 

 occur throughout the summer in parties of from 

 one to twelve or more pairs, being most isolated in 

 the rocky regions of the Berwickshire coast, and 

 most numerous off the low-lying sandy links of East 

 Lothian. Above Aberlady they are rarel}' seen off 

 shore, but have been noted in the Firth as far up 

 as Cramond Island, though I do not positively 

 know if they breed on that island, whilst along the 

 portion of the northern shore most intimately 

 known to me, between Burntisland and Queens- 

 ferry, they are as yet exceedingly rare, a single 

 pair in a quiet bay there on May i6th, 1895, being 

 the only ones that have come under my own obser- 

 vation. In April, the eiders are not numerous in 

 any one locality, but as the season advances they 

 concentrate to one point, and in early June over 

 fifty pairs may be counted together in their chief 

 haunt in the Forth area, a haunt which in 1821 

 was reported to be a common resort of this species, 

 and which still remains their chief home in our 

 district. 



Though my night-rambles after the scarcer 

 nesting-species have repeatedly led me to the 

 eiders' quarters, yet my first night in their haunts 

 comes ever back to memory with increasing vivid- 

 ness. I had reached the shore shortly before 

 midnight, and kept wondering as I roved along 

 what bird might be the producer of the strange 

 moaning cry that continually came from the sea ; 

 but I did not succeed in solving my difficulty till 

 morning. By night I paced up and down amongst 

 the herbage-covered sand-dunes, and in the dim 

 light of morning I found amongst the rough grass 

 an eider's nest with the eggshells broken around it, 

 as if by some plundering birds. Shortly afterwards 

 I came on a mass of down, betokening another 

 harried nest, and near a ridge-top I discovered a 

 third with down alone in it. The fourth, empty 

 like the others, I obtained in a slight hollow. At 

 length I saw two female eiders flying low in my 

 direction, and in the vain hope of being unnoticed 

 by them I lay down, but was not gratified in 

 seeing them alight. Huge and heavy as they 

 appeared on the wing, they flew easily enough 



along and made a second circuit round me, uttering 

 a low cry at the same time, before they passed out 

 of sight. Still I plodded on, and about four o'clock 

 disturbed a sitting bird ; with difficulty she seemed 

 to get on the wing, and with heavy loud flapping 

 she made seawards, keeping close to the ground as 

 she flew. The nest, containing four eggs, was 

 placed at the junction of a grassy and a sandy 

 portion, and was composed of dry igrass with a 

 scanty supply of down. On the discovery of this 

 nest I ceased my searching, and, approaching the 

 edge of the sand-dune bordering the shore, I peered 

 over and gazed on a sight truly splendid. Eiders, 

 and eiders alone, were stationed on the low rocks 

 in the foreground, and on discovering my presence 

 they rose with a terrific clapping of wings, and soon 

 again alighted on the water with heavy splashing. 

 The same moaning that had claimed my attention 

 by night was still proceeding from the large flock 

 of birds and was accompanied by curious evolu- 

 tions of the head. Both sexes were thus gesticulat- 

 ing, tossing up their heads with the tip of the 

 bill pointing upwards, or occasionally downwards, 

 and the drakes sometimes raised their breasts right 

 out of the water. The moan resembled " ah-woe-o, 

 a-woo," and another note " whee-whee-whee " was 

 also frequently uttered. Further along, another 

 eider rose heavily in front of me, and in silence 

 made for the sea. This nest also contained four 

 eggs and was well-lined with down, whilst a 

 peculiar disagreeable smell, noticed in the previous 

 instance as well, emanated from it. The eider's 

 nest — despite the size of the contained eggs — is 

 not a conspicuous object in these rough grass-clad 

 links, as it is made to fit compactly into the place 

 chosen ; it is usually discovered by the birds rising 

 at our feet. 



The nest, in the Forth area, is generally near the 

 sea, placed usually in some inequality of the wild 

 herbage and tangled plants, or more rarely situated 

 on a comparatively bare dune-face. In one 

 instance an eider formed her nest on a heap of grass 

 which had been cut and piled the previous season, 

 and in another she had formed it in a crevice 

 amongst bare jagged rocks. In some cases a 

 hollow is formed in the ground beforehand; often, 

 however, no prior preparation is made, and the 

 large nest of grass and moss is rendered firm by 

 the weight of the bird. The quantity of nesting 

 material varies greatly in different instances, being 

 sometimes almost entirely absent, as where a 

 convenient depression has been chosen by the bird, 

 and at other times of much grass and other plant 

 stems from the adjoining ground. In the nest 



