THE EIDER DUCK. 349 



ish-yellow, with small lines of brownish-black. The feathers of the back 

 are brownish-black towards the end, with yellowish-grey edges, the scapu- 

 lars brownish-red on the margins. The quills and tail-feathers are deep 

 greyish-brown; the recurved secondaries broadly edged externally with 

 yellowish-grey. The fore part of the lower neck and breast, the sides, and 

 lower tail-coverts, have a central mark and sub-marginal band of brownish- 

 black, the middle of the breast scarcely spotted, being of the general colour 

 of the lower parts, which is pale yellowish-brown. 



Length to end of tail 20 inches, to end of wings 17; wing from flexure 

 10^; tail 3f; bill from the separation of the lobes 14; tarsus ly^; middle 

 toe 2^, its claw f . 



THE EIDER DUCK. 



-'-FrjLIGTTLA MOLLISSIMA, Linn. 



PLATE CCCCV.— Males and Female. 



The history of this remarkable Duck must ever be looked upon with 

 great interest by the student of nature. The depressed form of its body, 

 the singular shape of its bill, the beautiful colouring of its plumage, the 

 value of its down as an article of commerce, and the nature of its haunts, 

 render it a very remarkable species. Considering it as such, I shall en- 

 deavour to lay before you as full an account of it as I have been able to 

 obtain from my own observation. 



The fact that the Eider Duck breeds on our eastern coasts, must be inter- 

 esting to the American ornithologist, whose fauna possesses but few birds of 

 this family that do so. The Fuligulae are distinguished from all other Ducks 

 that feed in fresh or salt water, by the comparative shortness of the neck, the 

 greater expansion of their feet, the more depressed form of their body, and 

 their power of diving to a considerable depth, in order to reach the beds on 

 which their favourite shelly food abounds. Their flight, too, differs from 

 that of the true Ducks, inasmuch as it is performed nearer the surface of 

 the water. Rarely, indeed, do the Fuligulae fly at any considerable height 

 over that element, and with the exception of three species, they are rarely 



