68 
THE EIDER DUCK. 
tremely large and muscular. The trachea of the young male, so loLgasit 
remains in its imperfect plumage, or for the first twelve months, does not 
resemble that of the old male. The males do not obtain their full plumage 
until the fourth winter. They at first resemble the mother, then gradually 
become pie-bald, but not in less time than between two and three years. 
The Eider Duck takes a heavy shot, and is more easily killed on wing 
than while swimming. When on shore they mark your approach while you 
are yet at a good distance, and fly before you come within shot. Some- 
times you may surprise them while swimming below high rocks, and, if you 
are expert, then shoot them ; but when they have first seen you, it is seldom 
that you can' procure them, as they dive with extreme agility. While at 
Great Macatina Harbour, we discovered a large basin of water, communi- 
cating with the sea by a very narrow passage about thirty yards across, and 
observed that at particular stages of the tides the Eider Ducks entered and 
returned by it. By hiding ourselves on both sides of this channel, we suc- 
ceeded in killing a good number, but rarely more than one at a shot, • 
although sometimes we obtained from*a single file as many as we had of gun- 
barrels. 
Excepting in a single nest, I found no down clean, it having been in every 
other instance more or less mixed with small dry fir twigs and bits of grass. 
When cleaned, the down of a nest rarely exceeds an ounce in weight, 
although from its great elasticity, it is so bulky as to fill a hat, or if properly 
prepared even a larger space. The eggers of Labrador usually collect it in 
considerable quantity, but at the same time make such havoc among the 
birds, that at no very distant period the traffic must cease. 
Eider Duck, Anas mollissima, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. viii. p. 122. 
Fuligula mollissima, Bonap. Syn., p. 389. 
Somateria mollissima, Eider , Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 448 
Eider Duck, Nutt. Man., vol. ii. p. 406. 
Eider Duck, Fuligula mollissima , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. iii. p. 344 ; vol. v. p. 611, 
Male, 25, 42. Female, 24, 39. 
Breeds in Maine, on the Bay of Fundy, in Labrador, Newfoundland, as 
far northward as travellers have proceeded. Common in winter from Nova 
Scotia to Massachusetts ; rarely seen in New York. 
Adult Male. 
Bill about the length of the head, deeper than broad at the base, some- 
what depressed towards the end, which is broad and rounded. Upper man- 
dible with a soft tumid substance at the base, extending upon the forehead, 
and deeply divided into two narrow rounded lobes, its whole surface marked 
with divergent oblique lines, the dorsal outline nearly straight and sloping 
