Wild- Fowl of Wild- Fowl 



of them resorting to tree-hollows by the retired 

 lakes. The Red-head is also reported as nesting 

 rarely in this region. 



It is quite surprising that while incalculable thou- 

 sands of the Eiders — known to fishermen and gun- 

 ners as "Sea Ducks" — pass up the St. Lawrence 

 on their way to Labrador and beyond, without even 

 stopping at the Magdalen Islands, quite a few of 

 them remain for the summer on various lonely 

 islands along the coast of Maine, New Brunswick, 

 and southern Nova Scotia. Owing to persecution, 

 they are usually very cunning in concealing the 

 whereabouts of the nests. They always cover them 

 with a profusion of the soft "eider-down " when 

 they have occasion to leave. If a boat appears, they 

 will even skulk from the weedy clumps or shelter- 

 ing bush, slip down to the water's edge and swim 

 ofif under water. I remember once, as we rowed 

 around a point of "No Man's Land," coming right 

 upon a female Eider that had probably just left her 

 nest somewhere up on the shore. At first she did 

 not try to dive, and she was so near that I leaned 

 over the side of the boat to lay hold of her. Im- 

 minent danger brought her suddenly to herself, 

 and the speedy plunge that followed was the last I 

 ever saw of her. 



Once I caught the cunning Eider napping. It 

 was on Green Island, ofif Mt. Desert. I was follow- 

 ing a sort of grass-grown ledge, quite high up from 

 the water, when I almost trod on a female Eider, 

 sitting close. Her sudden start gave a decided, 

 though pleasant, shock to my nerves. I found a 

 bed of eider-down, — just as soft as it is reputed to 



21 I 



