OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 445 



It may be watched gradually swimming towards the land in some 

 sheltered bay, feeding as it comes, until the very edge of the 

 breakers is reached. If alarmed, instead of diving, it usually 

 swims quickly out from shore, and when still further pursued or fired 

 at, instantly takes wing, rising from the water at once and with 

 little splash or fuss. So far as my experience extends the Eider 

 is a day feeder, and during the breeding season at any rate passes 

 the night on land. I never met with this bird at sea during the 

 night amongst the coasts where it was breeding in considerable 

 numbers, although Auks were common enough ; still it is abroad 

 and feeding by dawn. The flight of this Duck is, as a rule, not 

 very quick, the wings being beaten very regularly ; but on occasion 

 the bird can fly with astounding speed, as I have on many occa- 

 sions learnt to my own humiliation. The Eider is a remarkably 

 silent bird, its usual note being a not very loud kurr, but in the 

 breeding season the drake makes a cooing noise when paying 

 court to his mate, accompanying it with a bobbing motion of the 

 head, usually as he swims round and round her, guarding her from 

 the attentions of rivals. The Eider is not very social, and seldom 

 mingles with other fowl. Its flesh, as I can testify from experience, 

 is not unpalatable when prepared by a skilful cook. 



Nidification. — In our islands the small flocks of Eiders begin 

 to break up more distinctly into pairs towards the latter end of 

 March, but the eggs are seldom laid until the middle or end 

 of May, and in the Arctic regions not before the end of 

 June. The nest, wherever possible, is built on a small unin- 

 habited island, a rocky one by preference, moderately level, but 

 covered with plenty of marine vegetation. In some places it is 

 made among ruins, where the fallen masonry offers snug sites ; at 

 others it is on the top of the cliffs, or among the long heather of the 

 hillsides that slope to the sea. I have seen it at the very top of 

 cliffs several hundred feet in height on the Island of Doon, in 

 the St. Kilda group. Usually it is not very far from the water, but 

 reliable instances are on record where it has been discovered 

 several miles from the sea, and at an elevation of one thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea. The nest is generally made amongst 

 sea campion or coarse grass, but often in a crevice of low rocks, 

 or on a ledge of the same. It is usually a bulky, well-made 



