ANAS. 
«p their more shrill and clamorous cries. 
It is on account of this property that they 
are esteemed by many persons as the most 
vigilant of all sentinels, when placed in par- 
ticular situations. 
Anas Erythropus, or barnacle. The bar- 
nacle weighs about five pounds, and mea- 
sures more than two feet in length, and 
nearly four and a half in breadth. The 
bill, from the tip to the corners of the 
mouth, is scarcely an inch and a half long, 
black and crossed with a pale reddish streak 
on each side : a narrow black line passes 
from the bill to the eyes, the irides of 
which are brown : the head is small, and as 
far as the crown, together with the cheeks 
and throat, white : the rest of the head and 
neck, to the breast and shoulders, is black. 
The upper part of the plumage is prettily 
marbled or barred with blue-grey, black, 
and white : the feathers of the back are 
black, edged with white, and those of the 
wing-coverts and scapulars blue-grey, bor- 
dered with black near their margins, and 
edged with white : the quills black, edged 
a little way from the tips with blue-grey : 
the under parts and tail coverts white : the 
thighs are marked with dusky lines or spots 
and are black near the knees : the tail is' 
black, and five inches and a half long: the 
legs and feet dusky, very thick and "short, 
and have a stumpy appearance. In severe 
winters, these birds are not uncommon in 
this kingdom, particularly in the northern 
and western parts, where, however, they 
remain only a short time, but depart early 
in the spring to their northern wilds, to 
breed and spend the summer. 
Anas molissima, or eider duck. This 
wild, but valuable species, is of a size be- 
tween the goose and the domestic duck, 
and appears to be one of the graduated links 
of the chain which connects the two kinds. 
The full-grown old males generally measure 
about two feet two inches in length, and 
two feet eighteen in breadth, and weigh 
from six to above seven pounds. The fe- 
male is nearly of the same shape, though 
less than the male, weighing only between 
five and six pounds ; but her plumage is 
quite different, the ground colour being of 
a reddish brown, prettily crossed with 
waved black fines ; and in some specimens 
the neck, breast, and belly are tinged with 
ash : the wings are crossed with two bars 
of white : quills dark : the neck is marked 
with longitudinal dusky streaks, and the 
belly is deep brown, spotted obscurely with 
black. The eider duck lays from three to 
five large, smooth, pale olive-coloured eggs ; 
these she deposits and conceals in a nest’ 
or bed, made of a great quantity of the soft’ 
warm, elastic down, plucked from her own 
breast, and sometimes from that of her mate. 
The ground work or foundation of the nest 
is formed of bent-grass, sea-weeds, or such 
like coarse materials, and it is placed in as 
sheltered a spot as the bleak and solitary 
place can afford. In Greenland, Iceland, 
Spitzbergen, Lapland, and some parts of 
the coasts of Norway, the eiders flock to- 
gether, in particular breeding places, in 
such numbers, and their nests are so close 
together, that a person in walking along, 
can hardly avoid treading upon them. The 
natives of these cold climates eagerly watch 
the time when the first hatchings of the 
eggs are laid : of these they rob the nest, 
and also of the more important article, the 
down with which it is fined, which they 
carefully gather and cany-off. These birds 
will afterwards strip themselves of their re- 
ihaining down, and lay a second hatching, 
of which also they are sometimes robbed : 
but, it is said, that when this cruel treat- 
ment is too often repeated, they leave the 
place, and return to it no more. The quan- 
tity of this valuable commodity, which is 
thus annually collected in various parts is 
uncertain. Buffon mentions one particular 
year, in which the Icelandic company sold 
as much as amounted to upwards of eight 
hundred and fifty pounds sterling. This 
however, must be only a small portion of 
the produce, which is all sold by the hardy 
natives, to stuff the couches of the pampered 
citizens of more polished nations. The great 
body of these birds constantly resides in the 
remote northern, frozen climates, the rigours 
of which their thick clothing well enables 
them to bear. They are said to keep toge- 
ther in flocks in the open parts of the sea, 
fishing and diving veiy deep in quest of 
shell-fish and other food, with which the 
bottom is covered ; and when they have sa- 
tisfied themselves, they retire to the shore 
whither they at all times repair for shelter’ 
on the approach of a storm. Other less nu- 
merous flocks of the eiders branch out, co- 
lonize, and breed further southward in both 
Europe and America: they are found on 
the promontories and numerous isles of the 
coast of Norway, and on those of the nor- 
thern, and the Hebrides or western isles of 
Scotland, and also on the Fern isles, on the 
Northumberland coast, which latter is the 
only place where they are known to breed 
in England, and may be said to be thehr 
