THE EIDER DUCK. 2$ I 



extend to the base of the tail, which is short, round, and slightly 

 decurvated. 



The Eider Duck is the northern bird which supplies the soft, 

 light, and warm material which is so well known under the name 

 of " eider-down." Its plumage is whitish, but the upper part of the 

 head, its belly, and its tail are black; the side of the head, the 

 throat, and the neck, are white, but the hair-like feathers on the back 

 part of the cheeks and nape are of a delicate pale green ; the lower 

 part of the neck is cream-coloured. The black parts, from their 

 glossiness, are conspicuous, while the white look soiled ; the head 

 and back are also shaded with a green tint. 



The Eider Duck is found in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, 

 occurring in diminished numbers in the latter. In the Outer 

 Hebrides it has many breeding-places, and some nests occur on 

 the Bass Rock, and on the Farn Islands, off the coast of Northum- 

 berland, where the eggs have been found in the month of June. 

 The nest is made in some hollow in the turf, and is composed of 

 sea-weed and dried grass, mixed with such marine plants as Plantago 

 maritima and Coronopsis. The eggs, which vary in number, are of a 

 longish oval shape, smooth and glossy, and of a pale greenish gre) 7 . 

 When they have been laid, the female is said to pluck the down 

 from her breast and cover them over with it. This down, when 

 shaken out, will occupy a space of nine or ten inches. This 

 peculiar quality of the down, however, caused by its elastic cha- 

 racter, belongs to all the Anatidas, and probably not less so to 

 the Anserinae. 



The principal home of the Eider Duck is on the bleak and 

 frozen coast of Northern Europe ; and its food, which is obtained by 

 diving, is the bivalve mollusca, also Crustacea, fishes, and fish- 

 spawn, together with aquatic worms. It makes its nest on rocks. 

 Sometimes two females lay in the same nest, which then contains 

 from nine to ten eggs, for each of them lays from four to six. The 

 nest is roughly built. " The eider ducks," as we learn from 

 Willoughby, " build themselves nests on the rocks, and lay good 

 store of very savoury and well-tasted eggs ; for the getting of 

 which the neighbouring people let themselves down by ropes 

 dangerously enough, and with the same labour gather the feathers, 

 or eider-dun, our people call them, which are very soft and fit to 

 stuff beds and quilts ; for in a small quantity they dilate themselves 

 much, being very springy, and warm the body above any others. 

 These birds are wont at set times to moult their feathers, enriching 

 the fowlers with this desirable merchandise." "When its young are 



