AMERICAN Eider. 325 



ity of the glacial regions, for which it has such a predilection. 

 The older birds are indeed only partially migratory, moving no 

 farther southward in winter than to permanent open water. The 

 presence of these birds, with a few others of like habits and 

 hardihood, contributes to give an air of animation to the bleak 

 and dreary coasts of Greenland and Spitzbergen. They are found 

 throughout Arctic America, and in severe winters sometimes 

 wander as far south to sea as the capes of the Delaware. In the 

 depth of winter, or from November to the middle of February, 

 the old birds are also usually seen in small numbers towards the 

 extremities of Massachusetts Bay and along the coast of Maine. 

 A few pairs even have been known to breed on some rocky 

 islands beyond Portland. Mr. Audubon found several nesting 

 on the isle of Grand Menan, in the Bay of Fundy ; but on the 

 bleak and wintry coast of Labrador they were seen by him in 

 abundance, nesting and laying from April to the last of May. 

 The nest was usually placed under the shelter of a low pros- 

 trate branched and dwarf fir (probably Pinus Banksiana), 

 and sometimes several are made under the same bush within a 

 foot or two of each other. The groundwork of the nest, as 

 usual, was sea-weeds and moss, but the down of the female 

 parent is only added when all the eggs are laid. The Duck, 

 now acquiring an attachment for her eggs, was at this time 

 easily approached, her flight being even and rather slow. As 

 soon as the task of incubation has commenced, the males leave 

 the land, and associate together in large flocks out at sea, in 

 July begin to moult, and in August become so bare as to be 

 scarcely able to rise out of the water. 



As soon as the young are hatched they are led to the water 

 by their attentive parent, and there remain, excepting in the 

 night and in tempestuous weather. Their greatest enemy, 

 besides man, is the Saddle-back Gull {Larus marinus) ; they, 

 however, elude his pursuit by diving, at which both old and 

 young are very expert. The down, though so valuable, is 

 neglected in I^abrador. It is so light and elastic that two or 

 three pounds of it, pressed into a ball that may be held in the 

 hand, will swell out to such an extent as to fill and distend the 



