COMMON EIDER. 
169 
or islands, and in its distribution is a northern bird. 
According to Mr. Yarrell, it is occasionally found on 
the southern coasts of England, and is sometimes 
brought to the London markets during winter, but it 
does not breed much farther south than the Fern 
Islands in the mouth of the Firth of Forth. From 
thence until within the range of the Bass Rock, it 
breeds in comparative abundance, many nests being 
always to be found on the smaller islands, and also 
sometimes on the more rugged parts of the mainland 
shores ; we once shot a female from the nest close 
to the old castle of Tantallon. Farther northward 
still, and among the distant islands, it is common. 
On the continental coasts we have little intelligence, 
but on all the shores of Northern Europe, where we 
have seen that so many of our summer migrating 
species breed, it is to be found in profusion, and 
is even far from being shy. It is recorded by 
Leemius “ that it breeds near to the inhabited 
houses ; it even suffers itself to be lifted from the 
eggs and set down again, and sometimes a country- 
man will carry the young in his hat from the nest 
to the sea, the duck running by his side, and mourn- 
ing gently from anxiety.” * The Eider is also dis- 
tributed around the shores of North America, and 
has been noticed by most of the ornithologists of 
that country. Audubon states that now it does not 
range farther south than the vicinity of New York, 
though formerly it must have had a rather more 
extensive range. 
* Leemius de Lapponibus, 276, note. 
