DUCKS . 
355 
square apartments for the ducks to nest in. Almost every compartment was 
occupied, and as we walked along the shore a long line of ducks flew out, one 
after the other. The surface of the water also was perfectly white with drakes, 
who welcomed their brown wives with loud and clamorous cooing. The house 
itself was a marvel. The earthen walls that surrounded it, and the window- 
embrasures were occupied by ducks. On the ground the house was fringed with 
ducks. On the turf slopes of its roof we could see ducks, and a duck sat on the 
cloor-scraper. The grassy banks had been cut into square patches, about 18 
inches having been removed, and each hollow had been filled with ducks. A 
windmill was infested, and so were all the outhouses, mounds, rocks, and crevices. 
The ducks were everywhere. Many were so tame that we could stroke them on 
their nests; and the good lady told us that there was scarcely a duck on the 
island that would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear.” In all 
cases the eiders build on the ground, and their not very numerous eggs are of 
some shade of green. In Labrador, where the numbers of these valuable birds 
have been greatly reduced by “ eggers,” Mr. A. S. Packard, writing of his 
experiences many years ago, observes that in the middle of June “ all the eiders 
were busy in making their nests and in laying their eggs. The old or completed 
nests contained a great mass of down, and were twelve to fifteen inches in outside 
diameter, the downy moss in which the eggs sank being five or six inches high , 
the newer nests were without down; and there were about five eggs to a nest. 
Most of the nests which we saw were built on low land near pools, and not far 
from the sea-water, in a dense thicket of dwarf spruce-trees.” The species referred 
to in this account is the American eider (S. dresseri), which differs from the 
common kind by the greater convexity of the beak, and the greater development 
of the elongated scapulars. The nest is formed of seaweed, lined with down from 
the body of the female bird; the lining being gradually added during the month 
occupied by incubation, till at length it reaches such an amount as to completely 
conceal the eggs. The product of down yielded by a single nest is about one-sixth 
of a pound; the local value of the commodity varying from twelve to fifteen 
shillings per pound. Although such thoroughly gregarious birds at all seasons, it 
is somewhat remarkable that the males of none of the eiders take any share in the 
work of incubation. 
The pied Labrador duck (S. labradoria) is a species which may be included 
among the eiders, although frequently referred to a distinct genus ( Camptolcemus ). 
A handsome bird, formerly abundant on the coast of Labrador and the mouth of 
the St. Lawrence, it appears to have become extinct since 1852. 
The black marine ducks known as scoters, derive their scientific 
The Scoters. ((Edemia) from their swollen or basally tuberculate beaks, 
which are deep, large, and strong, with the tip much depressed, and entirely covered 
by the large, flat nail; the oval and lateral nostrils being placed near the middle 
of the beak. The wings are pointed and rather short, and the graduated tail is 
likewise short and pointed. Placed relatively far back on the body, the legs are 
noticeable for the shortness of the metatarsus; while the large feet are char¬ 
acterised by the second toe being fully as long as the third. In the males the 
colour is black, with or without white on the head or wing; while in the females 
