SPECIES 13. ^NAS MOLLISSIMA. 
EIDER DUCK. 
[Plate LXXI. — Fig. 2, Male.'\ 
L’Oye d duvet, ou I’Eider, Briss. vi, p, 294. pi. 29, 30. — Buff, ix, 
p. 103. pi. 6. — PL Enl. 209. — Great Black and White Buck, 
Edvv. pi. 98. — Bewick, ii, p. 279. — Jlrct. Zool. JV* j. 480. — Lath. 
Syn. HI, p. 470. — Peale’s Museum, JV'b. 2706.* 
The Eider Duck has been long celebrated in Europe for the 
abundance and excellence of its down, which for softness, 
warmth, lightness, and elasticity surpasses that of all other Ducks. 
The quantity found in one nest more than filled the crown of a 
hat; yet weighed no more than three quarters of an ounce;t and 
it is asserted that three pounds of this down may be compressed 
into a space scarce bigger than a man’s fist; yet is afterwards so 
dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet square. J 
The native regions of the Eider Duck extend from 45° north 
to the highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and Ame- 
rica. Solitary rocky shores and islands are their favourite haunts. 
Some wandering pairs have been known to breed on the rocky 
islands beyond Portland in the district of Maine, which is per- 
haps the most southern extent of their breeding place. In En- 
gland the Fern Isles, on the coast of Northumberland, are an- 
nually visited by a few of these birds, being the only place in 
South Britain where they are known to breed. They occur 
again in some of the western isles of Scotland. Greenland and 
Iceland abound with them, and here, in particular places, their 
nests are crowded so close together that a person can scarcely 
walk without treading on them. The natives of those countries 
* Anai moUissima, Gmei. Syst. i, p. 514, .A/b. 15. — Ind. Orn. p, 845, Mi. 35. 
t Pennant. t Salem. Orn. p. 416. 
