350 THE EIDER DUCK. 



met with inland, unless when driven thither by storms. They differ, more- 

 over, in their propensity to breed in communities, and often at a very small 

 distance from each other. Lastly, they are in general more ready to aban- 

 don their females, the moment incubation has commenced. Thus the female 

 is left in a state of double responsibility, which she meets, however, with a 

 courage equal to the occasion, although alone and unprotected. 



The Eider is now seldom seen farther south along our eastern coast than 

 the vicinity of New York. Wilson says they are occasionally observed as 

 far as the Capes of Delaware; but at the present day this must be an ex- 

 tremely rare occurrence, for the fishermen of the Jerseys informed me that 

 they knew nothing of this Duck. In Wilson's time, however, it bred in 

 considerable numbers, from Boston to the Bay of Fundy, and it is still to be 

 met with on the rocky shores and islands between these points. Farther to 

 the eastward they become more and more plentiful, until you reach 

 Labrador, to which thousands of pairs annually resort, to breed and spend 

 the short summer. Many, however, proceed much farther north; but, as 

 usual, I will here confine myself to my own observations. 



In the latter part of October 1832, the Eiders were seen in considerable 

 numbers in the Bay of Boston. A large bagful of them was brought to me 

 by a fisherman-gunner in my employ, a person advanced in 3^ears, formerly 

 a brave tar, and one whom I feel some pride in telling you I assisted in 

 obtaining a small pension from our government, being supported in my 

 application by two of my Boston friends, the one the generous George 

 Parkman, M. D., the other that great statesman John Quincy Adams. 

 The old man had once served under my father, and to receive a bagful of 

 Eider Ducks from him was a gratification which you may more easily con- 

 ceive than I can describe. Well, there were the Ducks, all turned out on 

 the floor; young males still resembling their mother, others of more advanced 

 age, and several males and females complete in all their parts, only that the 

 bills of the former had lost the orange tint, which that part exhibits during 

 a few weeks of the breeding season. Twenty-one there were in all, and 

 they had been killed in a single day by the veteran and his son. Those 

 masterly gunners told me, that to procure this species, they were in the 

 habit of anchoring their small vessel about fifty yards off the rocky isles 

 round which these birds harbour and feed at this season. There, while the 

 birds were passing on wing, although usually in long lines, they could now 

 and then kill two of them at a shot. Sometimes the King Eider was also 

 procured under similar circumstances, as the two species are wont to asso- 

 ciate together during winter. At Boston the Eiders sold that winter at 

 from fifty to seventy-five cents the pair, and they are much sought after by 

 epicures. 



