THE EIDER DUCK. 
63 
It was of the usual bulky construction, and contained five eggs, deeply 
buried in down. She flew round us until we retired, when we had the 
pleasure to see her alight, walk to her nest, and compose herself upon it. 
Large flocks of males kept apart, and frequented the distant sea islands at 
this period, when scarcely any were able to fly to any distance, although they 
swam about from one island to another with great ease. Before their moult- 
ing had commenced, or fully a monlh earlier, these male birds, we observed, 
flew in long lines from place to place around the outermost islands every 
morning and evening, thus securing themselves from their enemies, and 
roosted in numbers close together on some particular rock difficult to be 
approached by boats, where they remained during the short night. By the 
1st Of August scarcely an Eider Duck was to be seen on the coast of 
Labrador. The young were then able to fly, the old birds had nearly com- 
pleted their moult, and all were moving southward. 
Having now afforded you some idea of the migrations and general habits 
of this interesting bird from spring to the close of the short summer of the 
desolate regions of Labrador, I proceed, with my journals before me, and my 
memory refreshed by reading my notes, to. furnish you Avith such details as 
may perhaps induce you to study its habits in other parts of the world. 
The Eider Duck generally arrives on the coasts of Newfoundland and 
Labrador about the 1st of May, nearly a fortnight before the waters of the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence are freed from ice. None are seen there during 
winter, and their first appearance is looked upon with pleasure by the few 
residents as an assurance of the commencement of the summer season. At 
this period they are seen passing in long files not many feet above the ice or 
the surface of the water, along the -main shores, and around the inner bays 
or islands, as if in search of the places where they had formerly nestled, or 
where they had been hatched. All the birds appear to be paired, and in 
perfect plumage. After a few days, during which they rest themselves on 
the shores fronting the south, most of them remove to the islands that border 
the coast, at distances varying from half a mile to five or six miles. The 
rest seek for places in which to form their nests, along the craggy shores, or 
by the borders of the stunted fir woods not far from the water, a few pro- 
ceeding as far as about a mile into the interior. They are now seen only in 
pairs, and they soon form their nests. I have never had an opportunity of 
observing their courtships, nor have I received any account of them worthy 
of particular notice. 
In Labrador, the Eider Ducks begin to form their nests about the last 
week of May. Some resort to islands scantily furnished with grass, near 
the tufts of which they construct their nests ; others form them beneath the 
spreading boughs of the stunted firs, and in such places, five, six, or even 
