May, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
239 
A MANUAL OF WILD FOWL SHOOTING 
PART SEVEN OF A SERIES OF ARTICLES DESCRIBING THE TRAITS, CHARACTERISTICS 
AND METHODS OF HUNTING OUR WATER-FOWL -THE SEA DUCKS CONCLUDED 
THE EIDER DUCKS 
T HE eider ducks are noted for their 
down. After the nest of moss and 
seaweed is built among the rocks or 
stunted bushes on the coast o£ Labrador 
or the islands of the far north seas, the 
female deposits her large bluish-gray 
eggs and proceeds to cover them and line 
the nest as well with the soft warm down 
of her breast. It is then that the eider- 
down hunters collect the feathers. When 
the nest has been persistently robbed and 
the female, in the effort to keep her eggs 
covered has stripped her breast of down, 
the drake will come to the rescue and 
pluck the feathers from his own breast. 
According to Saunders the average 
yield of down from a nest in Iceland is 
about one-sixth of a pound. On this 
island, as well as in other places, the 
birds are encouraged and protected by 
law. I understand the birds are not 
killed for their down since the feathers 
lose their elasticity after death, and 
only the “live” feathers are taken from 
the nests. Eider-down is of considerable 
commercial value and the gathering of 
the feathers is an important industry in 
the northern countries of Europe, al- 
though on this side of the Atlantic it is 
often neglected. 
When ice has formed over their north- 
ern feeding grounds, the eiders move 
south to the New England States and 
the Great Lakes. During unusually 
severe winters they will come as far 
south as the middle states. 
The first flocks to visit us in the late 
fall or winter are often comprised of the 
female birds and the young of the year, 
By FREDERICK A. W1LLITS 
White-winged scoter (male) 
Oidemia deglandi 
since the hardier old drakes do not mi- 
grate so far south until later, or perhaps 
not at all during an open winter. 
The eiders fly swiftly and powerfully, 
often but a few yards above the water. 
They are rarely seen flying over land 
since they are great lovers of the sea 
and take a direct course on their migra- 
tions, not following the indentations of 
the coast but passing over only the most 
sea-ward points of land. They are great 
divers, and since their diet is largely 
composed of fish their flesh is tough and 
undesirable. 
The varieties are known as the com- 
mon eider, the American eider, which re- 
places the common eider on sections of 
the Atlantic coast; the king eider, the 
Pacific eider and the spectacled eider. 
The American eider — Male: Upper 
parts white, excepting top of head, which 
is black with a greenish tinge on the 
feathers at sides of back of head; breast, 
cream color; lesser and middle wing 
coverts and patch on either side of 
rump, white; greater wing coverts and 
secondaries and tail, brownish black; 
lower part of back, rump, and underparts 
below breast, black; bill, legs and feet, 
olive green. Length, twenty-two inches. 
Female: Plumage, light brown, streaked 
with narrow darker brown and black 
lines; underparts, buff or grayish brown; 
bill, legs and feet same as male. Range: 
North America from Labrador and north 
Atlantic islands to Delaware on Atlantic 
coast; occasionally on the Great Lakes. 
The common eider is very similar in 
coloration to the American eider and a 
description of one answers equally well 
for that of the other. Its range is the 
northeastern coast of North America, 
south to New England States. 
The King eider — Male: Head, throat, 
neck, upper part of back, wing coverts 
and large patch on either side of rump, 
white, excepting top of head which is 
gray and cheeks which are pale green; 
line along base of bill, spot beneath eye 
and V-shaped mark from chin along sides 
of throat, black; breast, dark cream col- 
or; lower back, rump and rest of under 
parts, black; tail, brownish black; bill, 
legs and feet, grayish green. Length, 
twenty-three inches. Female: Head, chin, 
throat, buff streaked with brown; chest 
and sides, light buff ; back and under 
parts, blackish brown; tail, black; legs 
Black-bellied tree ducks are found throughout the Southern States as well as in Mexico and South America 
