616. EIDER DUCK. 
than a man’s fist, yet is afterwards so dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet 
square.* 
"The native regions of the Eider Duck extend from 45° N. to the 
highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and America. Soli- 
tary rocky shores and islands are their favorite haunts. Some wander- 
ing pairs have been known to breed on the rocky islands beyond Port- 
land, in the district of Maine, which is perhaps the most southern ex- 
tent of their breeding place. In England, the Fern Isles, on the coast 
of Northumberland, are annually visited by a few of these birds, being 
the only place in South Britain where they are known to breed. They 
occur again in some of the Western Isles of Scotland. Greenland 
and Iceland abound with them, and here, in particular places, their 
nests are crowded so close together, that a person can scarcely walk 
without treading on them. The natives of these countries know the 
value of the down, and carry on a regular system of plunder, both of 
it and also of the eggs. The nest is generally formed outwardly of 
drift-grass, dry sea-weed, and such like materials ; the inside composed 
of a large quantity of down, plucked from the breast of the female. In 
this soft, elastic bed she deposits five eggs, extremely smooth and 
glossy, of a pale olive color; they are also warmly covered with the 
same kind of down. When the whole number is laid, they are taken 
away by the natives, and also the down with which the nest is lined, 
together with that which covers the eggs. The female once more 
strips her breast of the remaining down, and lays a second time; even 
this, with the eggs, is generally taken away ; and it is said that the 
male, in this extremity, furnishes the third quantity of down from his 
own breast; but if the cruel robbery be a third time repeated, they 
abandon the place altogether. One female, during the whole time of 
laying, generally gives half a pound of down; and we are told, that, 
in the year 1750, the Iceland Company sold as much of this article, as 
amounted to three thousand seven hundred and forty-five banco dol- 
lars, besides what was directly sent to Gluckstadt+ The down from 
dead birds is little esteemed, having lost its elasticity. 
These birds associate together in flocks, generally in deep water 
diving for shell fish, which constitute their principal food. They fre- 
qnendy retire to the rocky shores to rest, particularly on the appear- 
ance of an approaching storm. They are numerous on the coast of 
Labrador, and are occasionally seen in winter as far south as the Capes 
of Delaware. Their flesh is esteemed by the inhabitants of Green- 
land, but tastes strongly of fish. 
The leneth of this species is two feet three inches; extent, three 
feet; weight, between six and seven pounds; the head is large, and 
the bill of singular structure, being three inches in length, forked in a 
remarkable manner, running high up in the forehead, between which 
the plumage descends nearly to the nostril ; the whole of the bill is of 
a dull yellowish horn color, somewhat dusky in the middle ; upper part 
of the head, deep velvet black, divided laterally on the hind head by a 
whitish band; cheeks, white; sides of the head, pale pea-green, 
marked with a narrow line of white, dropped from the ear-feathers; the 
* Salern. Or mith. p. 416. 
t Lies on Iceland, by Uxo Vax Troir, 1 $46. 
