Some New Facts About Eider Ducks 
Where They Live-What They are Like—Why They Should Be Protected-Eider-Down 
O F ALL swimming birds which the game 
laws are powerless to protect, the most 
remarkable, the most interesting and the 
most valuable is, beyond contradiction, the eider- 
duck. 
In the land of the Sagas, when human life 
was appreciated only at a slight value, the killing 
of one of these birds was punished by death. 
At the present day, in Iceland, Sweden and Nor¬ 
way, this penalty is replaced by a fine. The laws 
have made this beneficent bird a civil property, 
subject to all legal duties and protected by all 
legal restrictions. 
A head of a family owns four or five hundred 
eider-ducks, just as we own the same number of 
cows or sheep. He enjoys the products of this 
winged flock and bequeaths it to his children 
when he goes to his fathers. He must, in return, 
watch over its normal increase and preservation 
and be careful not to unnecessarily kill a single 
individual. These are, I think, the salient points 
of the laws of Iceland, Sweden and Norway, 
governing the ownership of eider-ducks. It is 
surprising that laws so wise have not been en¬ 
acted for the lower St. Lawrence, where this 
duck formerly existed in innumerable quantities 
and where there are still sufficient to entitle them 
to some efficient protection. 
There are two kinds of eider-ducks on the 
north shore. One the Somateria mollissima, 
called moniak by the natives here, nests in great 
numbers along the coast, in spite of the pitiless 
warfare waged against it. The other, Soma¬ 
teria spectabilis, or king duck, which the In¬ 
dians call Warnicootai, is seen only while migrat¬ 
ing, early in the spring or very late in the fall. 
It remains but a little while with us and nests 
much further north on the shores of the Atlan¬ 
tic. 
The female moniak is a very dark brown in 
youth and a yellowish red when full grown. It 
is awkward in appearance, especially when walk¬ 
ing, but it is not at all ungraceful when swim¬ 
ming. Its eye is bright, soft and mild. It is the 
best of mothers and the most faithful of mates. 
The sweetness of its voice is open to discussion, 
but its sounds seem nevertheless quite full of 
tenderness. 
The male bird is very fine, clothed with black 
velvet and cream-colored satin. It has an im¬ 
posing figure, although rather squat. Its voice, 
like that of the female, is not very seductive, but 
when expressing its affection for the latter it 
coos like a gigantic turtle-dove, and works its 
head and neck about in a most extraordinary 
Somateria MoIIisima 
manner. It is very prudent and if danger threat¬ 
ens the couple it is always the first to get away. It 
seems to have conceived as much admiration 
for the beauty of its plumage as respect for its 
skin. It is very cleanly in its habits. In youth 
it is a dark reddish gray. 
During the winter after its being hatched, the 
feathers of its neck and shoulders commence to 
whiten, then those of its head and finally the 
whole upper portion of its bosom and back suc¬ 
cessively acquire the yellowish creamy tinf 
which is its final dress, with the robe of black 
velvet covering the lower part of its body. This 
transformation is complete the third summer. 
About the end of March the males and fe¬ 
males mate and fly off to their nesting places. 
Formerly their nests were always on the sea¬ 
shore, but such is no longer the case. Those 
who are most persecuted by egg-hunters take 
refuge near the lagoons and smaller lakes along 
the seashore, selecting those whose approaches 
are hidden by hedges of dwarf and tangled 
spruce trees. Most of the old couples, however, 
return, in spite of the many tribulations which 
await them, to the spot where their old nest 
was built. 
When their choice is finally made they build 
a nest which is generally situated under shrubs 
or amid the grass and mosses which grow on 
our rocky islets. The female stamps down a 
depression in the soil which she covers with 
down plucked from her breast, arranging it so 
that a portion hangs over the edge of the de¬ 
pression it has trodden out. It then lays its 
eggs in this nest. When it leaves them it covers 
them with the down hanging over the edges and 
then hides the nest with dry leaves and grass. 
All these precautions are taken during the 
hatching and so carefully that it is frequently 
difficult to discover the nest. The first lot, con¬ 
sisting of from six to eight eggs, very seldom 
escapes the depredations of the egg-hunters. But 
Forest and Stream’s Booth at Sportsman’s Show, 1914. 
377 
