Eider-Duck 25 
of the temperature. Both in Iceland and Northern Finmark Eiders stay all the winter, as 
there is generally open water about the mouths of the fjords ; and these birds probably 
never move south at all, as the large Swedish race does in exceptional conditions. Whilst 
on migration in autumn a wandering individual may sometimes be found on fresh-water 
lakes ; but the circumstance is rare, and those that occur at intervals in the fresh-water 
ponds of England, Central Germany, and even Switzerland, are just stragglers that have 
lost their way. 
Being quite unfit for the table, Eiders should never be killed except as specimens for 
the museum, although hundreds are annually exposed for sale in the shops of Norway, 
Denmark, and Germany. I have met fishermen on the east coast of Scotland who say they 
are as good as Mallard to eat ; but I must confess that the only one I ever tried was worse 
than most ducks feeding on shell-fish, and that is giving it a pretty poor character as a 
table-bird. When specimens are wanted — and there is no bird in the world whose complete 
series of plumages are more interesting to collect — it will be found that Eiders are for the 
most part somewhat difficult to obtain in winter. There are always places where the adults 
can be shot with certainty by one who knows the local habitats of this bird and is able to 
handle a gun effectively in a rocking boat ; but to shoot the immatures and adults in the 
various states of plumage found in the first, second, and third year is far from easy, and is 
a task that will tax the powers of the most energetic hunter. To obtain second-year males 
and some of the eclipse plumages, I have always found a most difficult task, for these often 
lead a solitary existence, and they avoid the regular feeding grounds affected by adults, 
often going to places for their food so exposed and stormy that it is highly dangerous to 
pursue them. Even if found, the turmoil of the waves is so great that it is found difficult 
to keep one's seat in the boat, whilst shooting can only be of a snap-shot order. 
Of course this makes the charm of the Eider and other sea-ducks all the more interesting 
to the true naturalist, for it is a truism in human nature that the more difficult a thing is to 
obtain the more we value it. There is, therefore, a certain pride amongst gunners that 
they should themselves shoot what is not easy to obtain, and the personal capture of a series 
of Eiders makes one of the greatest triumphs of sport upon the open sea. If any of 
my readers desires a task that requires eight or ten years of assiduous hunting amongst the 
northern seas let him try to collect a series of Eider skins, and at the end of that time I 
think he will agree with me that he will at least have had a very agreeable experience of 
sea-shooting before his labours were completed. 
Eiders at sea can usually be detected by the white backs of the males. While most 
sea-ducks generally keep paddling directly head to wind, this is not the case with the Eider, 
and one of the first things you will notice in sighting these birds is that both males and 
females keep turning round and round in the water, first head and then tail to wind, as if 
indifferent to the elements. 
If the birds are downwind and the wind not too strong, they may be directly sailed 
to ; but if the wind behind is strong the boat is sure to make a slight crashing as it 
overlaps the more slowly moving waves, and this alarms the birds very considerably. 
The only thing here to do is to lower the sail to such an extent that the boat just drifts 
downwind at a pace consistent with silent approach. Unless much shot at Eiders will 
generally permit the sailing boat to approach to within 80 yards. They then put up 
VOL. II. D 
