Brewster.] 390 [October 3, 



68. Somateria mollissima dresseri, Sharpe. — American 

 Eider Duck. 



The Eider is still common along the North Shore, but its num- 

 bers are rapidly diminishing there. This is due largely to the 

 depredations of the Indians of the region who, during the sum- 

 mer, subsist largely on the birds and their eggs. Their manner 

 of taking them is peculiar. They skirt the shore in canoes, 

 keeping as close to land as the depth of water will permit. 

 Meanwhile their dogs range about among the trees quartering 

 the grounds like trained setters, and when a nest is discovered 

 announce the fact by loud barking. The nests are usually within 

 a few rods of the water, and the scent of the dogs is so keen that 

 they rarely pass one. If the sitting bird can be caught or shot 

 the opportunity is seldom neglected, for the half-starved Indian 

 neither knows nor respects considerations of mercy — or, perhaps 

 we should call it policy — which restrain more enlightened sports- 

 men on such occasions. Proceeding thus, two men in a canoe 

 will frequently ransack twenty miles of coast-line in a single 

 day and find, probably, nearly every Eider's nest. The result of 

 this systematic persecution cannot be doubtful or long-delayed. 



Our personal experience with the Eider was not extensive. We 

 saw them frequently from Mingan Harbor eastward, but the In- 

 dians had been before us everywhere, and we could find neither 

 eggs nor young. The birds were usually observed in flocks of 

 from five to twenty individuals, all of which seemed to be adults 

 and the majority females. Our pilot called them " Mooyaks," an 

 Eskimo name he said, but one which we found in general use 

 among the fishermen-gunners of this region. The Eider winters 

 abundantly in the Gulf wherever it can find open water. 



69. Somateria spectabilis, Linn. — King Eider. 



One of the inhabitants at English Head Bay, Anticosti, gave 

 me an accurate description of this Eider, which he said was nearly 

 as common in winter as the "Mooyak." He called it by an 

 Indian or Eskimo name which I neglected to note, and dwelt with 

 much unction on the edible qualities of the peculiar fatty protu- 

 berance found on the forehead of the adult male. The bird was 

 also known to the people at Fox Bay, but it was not considered 

 common there. 



70. Melanetta velvetina, Cass. — American Velvet Scoter. 



