THE EIDER DUCK. 
61 
met with inland, unless when driven thither by storms. They differ, more- 
over, in their propensity to breed in communities, and often at a very small 
distance from each other. Lastly, they are in general more ready to 
abandon their females, the moment incubation has commenced. Thus the 
female is left in a state of double responsibility, which she meets, however, 
with a courage equal to the occasion, although alone and unprotected. 
The Eider is now seldom seen farther south along our eastern coast than 
the vicinity of New York. Wilson says they are occasionally observed as 
far as the Capes of Delaware ; but at the present day this must be an 
extremely rare occurrence, for the fishermen of the Jerseys informed me 
that they knew nothing of this Duck. In Wilson’s time, however, it bred 
in considerable numbers, from Boston to the Bay of Eundy, and it is still to 
be met with on the rocky shores and islands between these points. Farther 
to the eastward they become more and more plentiful, until you reach 
Labrador, to which thousands of pairs annually resort, to breed and spend 
the short summer. Many, however, proceed much farther north ; but, as 
usual, I will here confine myself to my own observations. 
In the latter part of October 1832, the Eiders were seen in considerable 
numbers in the Bay of Boston. A large bagful of them was brought to me 
by a fisherman-gunner in my employ, a person advanced in years, formerly 
a brave tar, and one whom I feel some pride in telling you I assisted in 
obtaining a small pension from our government, being supported in my 
application by two of my Boston friends, the one the generous George 
Parkman, M. D., the other that great statesman John Quincy Adams. 
The old man had once served under my father, and to receive a bagful of 
Eider Ducks from him was a gratification which you may more easily con- 
ceive than I can describe. Well, there were the Ducks, all turned out on 
the floor ; young males still resembling their mother, others of more 
advanced age, and several males and females complete in all their parts, 
only that the bills of the former had lost the orange tint, which that part 
exhibits during a few weeks of the breeding season. Twenty-one there 
were in all, and they had been killed in a single day by the veteran and his 
son. Those masterly gunners told me that to procure this species, they 
were in the habit of anchoring their small vessel about fifty yards off the 
rocky isles round which these birds harbour and feed at this season. There, 
while the birds were passing on wing, although usually in long lines, they 
could now and then kill two of them at a shot. Sometimes the King Eider 
was also procured under similar circumstances, as the two species are wont 
to associate together during winter. At Boston the Eiders sold that 
winter at from fifty to seventy-five cents the pair, and they are much sought 
after by epicures. 
