330 
SWIMMERS. 
buff; bill and legs orange. The female has the entire plumage of two 
shades of brown, the centre of the feathers dark brown, and the edges 
rufous. Length 2/) inches. 
Nest. On an ocean island or sea-side cliff, sometimes on a dry hillside, 
— usually a depression in the soil thickly lined with down ; often a high 
structure of twigs and moss. 
Eggs. 6-10 (usually 6); green of various shades, with more or less 
tinge of buff ; 2.60 X i.go. 
This species is an inhabitant of the glacial regions, living 
generally out at sea, and feeding, independently of the land, 
chiefly upon the mollusca which abound in the Arctic Sea. 
It is never seen in fresh waters, and only resorts to land 
for the indispensable purposes of reproduction. Being well 
provided with a thick and downy robe, it is little inclined 
to change its situation, however rigorous the climate ; and as 
the frost invades its resorts, it continually recedes farther out 
to sea, and dwells securely amidst eternal barriers of ice and 
all the horrors of an Arctic winter. The King Duck, still 
more sedentary than the Eider, is seldom seen beyond the 
59th parallel, except in the depth of winter, when, according 
to Audubon, it is observed off the coast of Halifax in Nova 
Scotia, Newfoundland, etc., and a few have been obtained off 
Boston, and at Eastport in Maine. These birds abound in 
Greenland and Spitzbergen, and visit and sometimes breed in 
the Orkneys and other of the remote Scottish isles. A few are 
also occasionally seen on the coasts of the Baltic and in Den- 
mark. They breed sometimes in the crevices of rocks impend- 
ing over the sea, making a nest of sticks and moss, lined with 
down from the breast. 
The flesh is said to be palatable, the gibbous part of the bill 
being accounted a delicacy ; and the down collected by the 
Greenlanders is esteemed of equal value with that of the 
Common Eiders. 
The King Eider breeds in high latitudes, — north of latitude 73°, 
— but a few pairs nest on the Labrador coast, and Mr. Boardman 
says that nests have been found in the Bay of Fundy. 
In winter these birds are found in South Greenland and along 
the coast of New Jersey (sparingly), and occasionally on the Great 
Lakes. 
