60 
THE EIDER DUCK. 
ish-yellow, with small lines of brownish-black. The feathers of the back 
are brownish-black towards the end, with yellowish-grey edges, the scapu- 
lars brownish-red on the margins. The quills and tail-feathers are deep 
greyish-brown ; the recurved secondaries broadly edged externally with 
yellowish-grey. The fore part of the lower neck and breast, the sides, and 
lower tail-coverts, have a central mark and sub-marginal band of brownish- 
black, the middle of the breast scarcely spotted, being of the general colour 
of the lower parts, which is pale yellowish-brown. 
Length to end of tail 20 inches, to end of wings IT ; wing from flexure 
1(H ; tail 3f ; bill from the separation of the lobes 1J ; tarsus 1 T 8 2 ; middle 
toe 2£, its claw f . 
THE EIDER DUCK. 
IfULIGULA MOLLISSIMA, Linn. '* 
PLATE CCOOV. — Males and Female. 
The history of this remarkable Duck must ever be looked upon with 
great interest by the student of nature. The depressed form of its body, 
the singular shape of its bill, the beautiful colouring of its plumage, the 
value of its down as an article of commerce, and the nature of its haunts, 
render it a very remarkable species. Considering it as such, I shall 
endeavour to lay before you as full an account of it as I have been able to 
obtain from my own observation. 
The fact that the Eider Duck breeds on our eastern coasts, must be inter- 
esting to the American ornithologist, whose fauna possesses but few birds of 
this family that do so. The Fuligulm are distinguished from all other Ducks 
that feed in fresh or salt water, by the comparative shortness of the neck, the 
great expansion of their feet, the more depressed form of their body, and 
their power of diving to a considerable depth, in order to reach the beds on 
which their favourite shelly food abounds. Their flight, too, differs from 
ihat of the true Ducks, inasmuch as it is performed nearer the surface of 
the water. Rarely, indeed, do the Fuligulas fly at any considerable height 
over that element, and with the exception of three species, they are rarely 
