THE EIDER-DUCKS 
277 
in this way, but woe to the person caught firing a 
gun on or near the home-pond. When away 
from home, the birds are as wild as other wild- 
ducks and fail to recognize any members of the 
Gray family. While at home they follow the 
boys around the barn-yard, squawking for feed 
like so many tame ducks. 
“This is the greatest sight I have ever wit- 
nessed, and one that I could not believe existed 
until I had seen it. Certainly it is worth travel- 
ling many miles to see, and no one, after seeing 
it, would care to shoot birds that, when kindly 
treated, make such charming pets.” 
AMERICAN EIDER. 
The Group of Eider-Ducks. — The arctic 
and subarctic regions contain a group of about 
seven species of large sea-ducks, called eiders 
(i'ders). The representative species are dis- 
tinguished by their flat foreheads and wedge- 
shaped heads; by a long, wedge-shaped point 
of the cheek-feathers which extends forward 
and divides the base of the upper mandible ; and 
by the possession of more or less bright green 
color on the head. 
Oii land, the eiders are heavy and clumsy 
birds, but on the sea they are at home, and dive 
with great ability. The females line their 
nests very liberally with down from their own 
breasts, and this when gathered and utilized 
becomes the well-known “eider-down” of com- 
merce. Unfortunately, the natives of arctic 
America are unable to make use of eider-down, 
save on the skin, and this leads to the slaughter 
of great numbers of the birds. 
Eiders nest on the tops of rocky islets, using 
sea-weed or grass for a foundation, and covering 
this with down plucked from their own breasts. 
So abundantly is the nest lined that by the 
time the eggs are all deposited they are fairly 
embedded and covered in the softest of beds. 
In Iceland, the eider-ducks are half domes- 
ticated. The inhabitants collect the down 
from the nests for sale, and therefore they are 
much interested in preserving the birds. Nest- 
ing-places are made for the birds by building 
thick stone walls with spacious crevices along 
each side, at the base, or by scooping out 
shallow cavities in the hard earth. The Eiders 
permit their human friends to go among them, 
and even to handle their eggs. 
On the Atlantic coast, from Labrador to 
Delaware in winter, we have the American 
Eider , 1 which appears to be the best type for 
the eider group. Fortunately for our chances 
of close acquaintance with it, this species oc- 
casionally penetrates westward along the great 
lakes to Illinois and Wisconsin — a very unusual 
proceeding for a sea-duck. Any bird which 
will go so far out of its natural range in order 
to become acquainted with interocean Ameri- 
cans surely is worth knowing. Moreover, the 
eider of the Old World so closely resembles 
this bird in all essential details that to know 
one species is to know the other also. 
The colors of this bird are black and white, 
as shown in the illustration, except that the 
nape and the rear portion of the region around 
the ear are sea-green, and the tail and the pri- 
maries are pale brown. The bill and feet are 
olive-green. 
The Spectacled Eider , 2 of northwestern 
Alaska, is a bird easily remembered by its 
name, and the large, white spot around each 
eye which at once suggests a pair of spectacles. 
This bird is limited to our arctic territory, and 
is said, by Mr. E. W. Nelson, to be threatened 
with extinction by man at no very distant day. 
1 So-ma-te'ri-a dres'ser-i. Length, about 23 inches. 
2 Arc-ton-et'ta fisch'er-i. Length, about 21 inches. 
