EIDER DUCKS 
103 
This is a bird typical of the mountain torrents. Its summer home is 
the brawling glacial streams that descend the mountain sides, and the little 
pot-hole lakes that dot the higher valleys. The female raises her young in 
quiet, little glacial lakes, while the male, gay Harlequin that he is, betakes 
himself to the seacoast, where in company with others of his sex and some 
unmated or bereaved females, he spends the summer off rocky shores or 
on the kelp beds. The beauty of these wonderful little ducks has given 
them the name among prospectors and trappers of “Lord and Lady Duck/’ 
and their chosen haunts on the coast have suggested the term “Rock Duck.” 
156. Labrador Duck, le canard du labrador. Camptorhynchus labradorius. 
L, 20. A good sized duck, now extinct. The male was strikingly pied with black and 
white with a distinct black ring around a white neck. 
Distinctions. White head and neck with 
sharp black ring in the male. In the female, the 
broad bill probably curled up near the tip in 
old specimens. Any newly found specimen, 
however, should be identified with great care. 
Distribution. East coast. As the species 
became extinct about 1875, before much was 
known about it, its distribution can only be 
inferred. It is known mostly from wintering 
specimens on the New England coast and prob- 
ably bred somewhere on Labrador. 
Eiders 
Though not forming a recognized 
systematic subdivision of the ducks, the 
Eiders are sufficiently similar to warrant 
special reference as a group in a popular 
work of this kind. 
» 
General Description. Large, sturdily built birds; with the scoters, the largest of our 
ducks. Males have broad masses of contrasting black and white, with sharp secant 
markings, and delicate suffusions of pale nile green and wine-coloured tints. The females 
are coloured in even shades of brown and are notable in being more or less extensively 
crossbarred, in some cases completely around the body, at others mostly across breast and 
flanks. The bills, except of Steller’s and Spectacled Eiders, are stout, and much intruded 
upon by plumage at the base ( See Figures 155 to 157). 
Distinctions. In size and heavy build like the scoters, but the males have large 
amounts of white and the females are crossbarred in brown. 
Distribution. Arctic and marine in distribution. Seldom coming down from their 
northern haunts, and only accidentally, if ever, on fresh water. 
The Eiders are notable as the source of the eiderdown of commerce. 
It is the under, or body, down plucked by the bird itself for use as nesting 
material. Each nest is composed of a considerable mass of warm down 
on which the eggs are laid and with which they are covered when the 
parent leaves the nest. In Iceland, small amounts of down are gathered at 
regular intervals during egg deposition and incubation. This is gradually 
replaced by the bird as long as her supply lasts, after which she is left in 
peace until the eggs are hatched, when the remainder is also taken. After 
cleaning from adherent straws, grasses, and bits of moss the down is ready 
for sale and use. In that country land-holders have a proprietary right 
in the Eiders that nest on their lands. The birds are strictly protected and 
encouraged to nest close to the houses, where they become semi-domestic 
in their habits and furnish a regular and appreciable source of income. 
Figure 153 
Labrador Duck; scale, \. 
Female Male 
