242 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



Scaups belong to the same genus as the canvas-backs and 

 red-heads, but they feed more on mollusks and other forms 

 of animal life and are less palatable. 



The Whistler, or Golden-eye, Old Squaw, Butter-ball, or 

 Dipper, and Ruddy Duck are all easy divers, which feed chiefly 

 on mollusks and similar creatures that they obtain from the 

 bottoms of ponds and lakes. They are often eaten, but pos- 

 sess a fishy flavor that is not relished by most people. 



Of the more distinctively sea-ducks, only the surf-ducks and 

 eiders need be mentioned. Surf-ducks or Scoters of various 

 species are abundant along the coast from autumn till spring. 



HEAD OF SURF SCOTER DUCK. 



Many of them are killed every year, but they are of inferior 

 quality, having a rank taste that comes from a diet of shell-fish. 

 The American Eider and King Eider are both arctic species 

 that rarely come further south than New England. They, in 

 common with other varieties of eiders, furnish eider-down. 

 This down is in great demand in northern European countries 

 for filling coverlets. The best, known as live down, is that 

 plucked by the duck from her breast to line her nest, and 

 afterwards abstracted by the down-gatherer. Greenland, Ice- 

 land, and Norway are the chief sources of eider-down. The 

 following quotation from Newton's "Dictionary of Birds" tells 



