SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



177 



amongst rocks referred to above, the foundation 

 consisted of small fragments of plantain and sea- 

 pink, upon which lay a great mass of down ; it 

 measured fourteen inches in one diameter and nine 

 in another. 



The usual clutch is four ; I have found a nest 

 with seven, and one with two, in which incubation 

 had begun. In the nest with seven the arrange- 

 ment was peculiar, for, whilst five were placed 

 round a central sixth, the seventh lay above them, 

 forming a second layer. The eggs are dark greyish 

 green, the green being more or less pronounced, 

 and are often marked with dark, greasy-looking 

 blotches. In some eggs the arrangement ;of the 

 different shades gives the appearance of a much 

 broken and torn layer of dark green, displaying the 

 lighter green through its gaps. 



The down is added to the nest after the eggs are 

 laid and is often so closely intermingled with the 

 material of the nest as to make separation difficult. 

 The flakes are large, with white centres and uni- 

 formly grey tips, and, in mass, the down is very 

 elastic. Except when the clutch consists finally 

 of less than four, little down appears in the nest 

 till that number is laid. The duck sits closely, and 

 when disturbed fiies off in silence to the nearest 

 water, or sometimes settles at a distance and stands 

 on the grassy slope watching the disturber. When 

 she flies direct to the sea her subsequent actions 

 can seldom be followed, as there is generally an 

 intervening brow. Once I roused a duck from her 

 nest, containing an incomplete clutch of three, on 

 the grassy slope rising from the shore, and saw her 

 settle on the sea, when a drake immediately rose 

 and flew to her side. The duck rested with her 

 head on her shoulders in normal position, then 

 performed the gesticulation peculiar to the nesting 

 season, raising her head upward and forward and 

 quickly retracting it again. 



Many nests are robbed by vermin, but far more 

 are taken by man, so that the continued abundance 

 under such conditions is remarkable. On June 6th, 

 1895, I was examining a small rocky island, which 

 rises sufficiently high above the water to be clad 

 with patches of grass over its irregular surface, 

 and, having explored the seaward half without any 

 interruption from breeding-birds, I was returning 

 along the landward border, when I noticed an eider 

 appear from the side of a dirty pool and stand 

 amongst the white bladder-campion plants and 

 purple seapink. She walked a few steps and 

 called in a low tone " krok-ok-ok-ok," whilst I 

 halted in amazement, unable to understand her 

 action. Presently I detected two young birds 

 following her, and, giving chase, I caught one of 

 them. The eider ran, and then flew to the sea. 

 I discovered other three youngsters skulking by 

 the side of the pool, making five in all, and as they 

 were at a safe distance from the water I could have 



taken them all if I had wished. I kept one of them 

 and set the others in motion. The duck flew up 

 the island towards me and her young, and stood 

 calling to them from a rock till she had successfully 

 led off two of them. She swam away with them, 

 calling the while, and ere she had gone far she was 

 joined by the drake. The concern of the drake for 

 the duck when her eggs or her young are in danger, 

 as observed on this and on other occasions, leads 

 me to think that they pair for life. After the 

 nesting season the flocks disperse and retreat from 

 our shores, and leave the shore-wanderer almost 

 a stranger to their winter habits. Yet they do not 

 entirely forsake us, and when seen afford us an 

 opportunity of filling up details, which in summer 

 we either failed to describe, or could not, because 

 of the numbers of the birds. On December 25th, 

 1893, I found four birds, apparently a family party, 

 at the base of Fast Castle. The party consisted of 

 two drakes, one adult and one immature, and two 

 ducks, whose age could not be determined, and 

 they displayed no anxiety as they swam and dived 

 near the land. They sat deeply on the water, and 

 the waves rolling past them were broken in small 

 patches of white foam by their disturbing presence. 

 They did not rise from the water to dive, but simply 

 curved their necks deliberately and opened their 

 wings as they entered the sea. On every occasion 

 the adult drake was the last to enter, and it was 

 easy to follow his course from his brightness of 

 plumage, as with outstretched neck he flew quickly 

 down in a slanting direction through the water. 

 They remained on an average thirty to thirty-four 

 seconds beneath the surface, and after reappearing 

 they often touched the water with the point of 

 their bills, as if sipping. The three less con- 

 spicuous members of the group often rose on 

 the water to shake their wings or beat the sur- 

 face to splash the water over them, and ducked 

 their heads as they thus cleaned themselves. After 

 a while they swam in company slowly away from 

 land. 



A gamekeeper to the east of Gullane has made 

 several attempts to rear young eider ducks by feed- 

 ing them on eggs, custard and Spratt's meal, and 

 would probably have succeeded in keeping them in 

 perfect health had he had the necessary conditions. 

 Seeing, however, that he has them in an enclosure, 

 without sufficient sea water, he suffers from an 

 inconvenience which has made itself felt in the 

 weakness of the birds' legs, and also in gatherings 

 about the eyes. On January 23rd, 1S94, I saw two 

 of his birds, which he had reared from the preceding 

 season, one of which was in perfect health and 

 plumage, whilst the other had lost all use of its 

 legs. He was justly proud of his hand-reared birds, 

 as he showed them to me, and I too was delighted 

 with them. 



46, Cumberland Street, Edinburgh; October, 1896. 



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