An Ornithologist’ s Summer in Labrador 
M. Abbott Frazar. 
* Somateria dresseri, American Eider. About 
Esquimaux Point a few “Moyae,” as the Indi- 
ans call them, still struggle against hard fate j 
in an honest endeavor to rear their young, but 
the gulls that fly and the gulls that walk are 
generally too much for the poor ducks, and the 
successful ones are those which go back from 
the shore and secrete their nests among the 
spruces in the centre of the islands. At Mus- 
quarro I really first met with them. We an- 
chored there late in the afternoon, and as I was 
rather tired after being aboard for several days, 
I thought a run on land would be a pleasant 
relief. So I started in my small boat for a lit- 
tle island of not over two acres in extent, which 
lay just under our stern. The island, which 
was very steep and rounded, was covered with 
a short soft grass about six inches high, and as 
I approached the shore, first one head bobbed 
up and then another, until I was soon aware 
that I had fallen in with quite a colony. 
The nests were scattered about everywhere, 
among the small rocks just above tide-water, 
and in the grass all over the island. They were 
always built of the soft, slate-colored down 
from the parents breast, which made a fitting 
receptacle for the beautiful greenish-yellow 
eggs, the handsomest of all the ducks. After 
landing on this island, it took me less than two 
hours to gather in some seventy odd sets. 
A favorite place for an eider to build, is at 
tlie foot of some large rock, or in an angle 
formed by two rocks, where they are sheltered 
from the wind, and times without number, I 
would come suddenly upon birds in such posi- 
tions; and once, in stepping over a rock, my 
foot came squarely down upon an Eider’s back, 
and I doubt which was scared the most, the old 
duck or myself. Another time, I came upon a 
nest placed upon some high rocks, in such a 
way that as I approached from the only open- 
ing the bird was fairly penned, and after mak- 
ing one or two vain attempts to jump over the 
rocks, mother duck settled back and quacked 
for mercy. I held her some time and by scratch- 
ing the top of her head I apparently succeeded 
in making her feel quite contented. 
Of the large number of nests I examined, 
most of them contained four or five eggs. A 
large number held six, two seven ; and one nest 
had eight. If not disturbed, the bird on leav- 
ing the nest draws the down over it, and so 
conceals the eggs. The male never sits, and 
leaves the female soon afterjthe eggs are laid, 
and gathering into large flocks they wander 
about wherever their food is the most abundant. 
As soon as the young are hatched the mother 
leads them to the water, and as many as three 
or four broods combine together, serving as a 
natural protection against the rapacious Saddle- 
backs ; but even this protection often proves 
insufficient, and many is the poor duckling 
which meets his fate in this way. By the time 
their feathers start they are old enough to be 
safe against the gulls, but then man comes 
along with his surer means of destruction and 
shoots them on all occasions, for they are cer- 
tainly delicious eating. 
Of all birds which I met on the Labrador 
coast, for none did I feel such a genuine sympa- 
thy as for the persecuted Moyae . A Murre 
faces extermination with a stupid ignorance 
which does not command respect, but an Eider 
is an intelligent bird and of such a quiet dispo- 
sition, that it really seems as though their 
greatest failing was their seeming confidence in 
man. They are persecuted with relentless en- 
ergy by both man and beast from the time they 
arrive up to the time they leave, and the count- 
less hordes which once inhabited this coast are 
fast disappearing, and it will not be long before 
the Eider of Southern Labrador, like the Eider 
of Grand Manan will be but a memory of the 
past. 
0 .& O. XII, Fsb.1887. p. / f-JW. 
\ 
Notes- Birds of Grand Manan. 
Ghas. H. Andros. 
American Eider, Somateria dresseri. The 
“Sea Ducks” are fast diminishing on and about 
Grand Manan. They are now found in flocks 
of from a dozen to thirty and have become so 
wary from constant persecution, that we found 
it exceedingly difficult to approach within gun- 
shot of a bunch. The blame for this decrease 
may be bestowed upon the Quoddy Indians, 
(The last remnant of the once powerful tribe 
of Passamaquoddys) who stop on the lower 
outlying islands during the spring and keep up 
a fusillade on both these and the Gulls. The 
fact that the celebrated down brings a good 
market price makes the demand so great for 
the Eider that driven from one shore to another 
by their relentless hunters they take to land 
very sparingly to oviposite and the nests be- 
come scarcer each year. The more enlightened 
people of Grand Manan have gradually come to 
a sense of duty over this slaughter, but as yet 
no definite steps have been taken to suppress it. 
The culprits are out of reach of the law on the 
uninhabited islands where they hold full sway, 
and like the colonies of Cormorants and Wild 
Geese which once swarmed the island, the Eider 
Duck will soon beeome a thing of the past. 
The feathers are worked up into fantastic 
shapes for head gear and other ornamental 
purposes and when a higher temperature 
causes the tourists to flock to Mt. Desert, Bar 
Harbor and other fashionable watering places 
of the Maine coast, they drive a very fair busi- 
ness at this questionable traffic. 
O.&o, XII, Sept. 1887 p.loi — /SZ 
