Part 24

Wilson mentions having heard from an eye-witness that a female of this species was seen carrying down thirteen young from her nest to the ground in the space of ten minutes. This she accomplished by seizing them one by one in her bill by the wing or back of the neck, and thus bearing them to the foot of the tree, whence she afterwards led them to the water.

THE CHINESE TEAL, OR MANDARIN DUCK.

The CHINESE TEAL, or MANDARIN DUCK (Aix galericulata), represents the group Cosmonessa, comprising birds closely resembling the Summer Ducks above described. This well-known species is not merely adorned with a crest, but has a flowing collar, and two remarkable fans or plumes situated on the shoulders. In the gorgeously apparelled male the green crest is purplish blue in front, with brown and green at the sides and back; a broad, brownish yellow line shading into yellowish white passes from the eyes to the nape; the long-pointed collar-feathers are bright red, the front of the neck and sides of the breast brownish red. The back-feathers are light brown; the fan-like shoulder-plumes steel-blue on the outer and brownish yellow on the inner web, which is edged with black and white. The sides of the breast exhibit two white and two black stripes; the sides of body are yellowish grey darkly marked; the under parts white, and the quills brownish grey bordered with white on the outer web. The eye is yellowish red, the beak red, with a white tip, and the foot reddish yellow. The female closely resembles the female Aix sponsa in appearance. The brilliant plumage of the male is thrown off from May to August, when the bird also loses its crest and wing-fans, and assumes a sober-tinted dress similar to that of his mate. The Mandarin Ducks are natives of Japan and China, and are highly esteemed in the latter country as exhibiting, it is supposed, a most striking example of conjugal attachment and fidelity. A pair of these birds are frequently placed in a gaily-decorated cage, and carried in their marriage processions, and are afterwards presented to the bride and bridegroom as worthy objects of their emulation. So highly, indeed, are they valued, that Dr. Bennett, we are told, was informed by a friend whom he commissioned to buy him a pair, that he could send him two live mandarins to Australia with far more ease than a pair of Mandarin Ducks. To the above naturalist we are indebted for the following interesting particulars concerning the attachment to their mates that characterises these beautiful birds:--"One day Mr. Beales' aviary at Macao was broken open, and the male bird stolen; his poor mate remained in a retired part of the aviary and refused to be comforted. She would scarcely take any food, and allowed her plumage to become dirty; in vain did another Drake endeavour to console her for her loss, she rejected all his advances, and remained disconsolate. After some time the lost bird was discovered in the hut of a Chinese of the lower class, and was brought back again. As soon as he recognised his old abode, he expressed his joy by flapping his wings and quacking vehemently, and no sooner did his mate recognise his voice than she almost quacked to screaming with ecstacy, and flew to meet him, and both expressed their joy by crossing necks and quacking together. Next morning the returned spouse fell upon the unfortunate Drake who had made advances to his mate in his absence, pecked his eyes out, and otherwise so disfigured him as to occasion his death in the course of a few days." According to Schrenck, this species appears in the countries watered by the Amoor about May, and departs again at the end of August; at this season it is always met with in small or large flocks, which are so extremely shy that they rarely come within gunshot. Whilst on the wing these parties crowd closely together in front, whilst the birds in the rear occupy a comparatively free space; the same authority states he has repeatedly seen Mandarin Ducks perching upon trees. These beautiful birds have been successfully reared in the London Zoological Gardens, some being hatched under the parent, and others under a Domestic Hen; the latter hatching the eggs two days sooner than the mother. The eggs are of a creamy brown colour.

THE SHOVELER DUCK.

The SHOVELER DUCK (Spatula clypeata) represents a group distinguished by their very remarkable and large bill, slender at its base, very broad and vaulted towards its extremity, and finely denticulated at its margins. The plumage of the male of this species is much variegated. The head and upper neck are dark green; the nape, upper back, and short shoulder-feathers edged with light grey; the lower neck, crop, and the upper wing-covers are white; the rest of the wing is light blue, decorated with a broad white stripe and a patch of metallic green. The lower parts of the back and rump are blackish green; the breast and belly chestnut-brown. The lower tail-covers are black, the quills brown, the centre tail-feathers brown bordered with white, and those at the sides more or less white. The eye is golden yellow, the bill black, and the foot reddish yellow. This bird is nineteen inches long and thirty inches broad; the wing measures ten inches and a half, and tail two and a half. The plumage of the female is greyish yellow, darkly spotted; the upper wing is grey, with a small greyish green patch, and her bill greenish yellow, edged with pale red. The summer costume of the male resembles that of his mate. The Shoveler Duck inhabits the temperate regions of the earth, and only occasionally wanders into northern latitudes. In Europe it is met with in all parts as far north as Norway. In Great Britain it is usually only a winter visitor, but occasionally remains to breed. From these temperate latitudes it wanders forth during the winter to Mexico, North and Central Africa, the South of China, and India. Audubon, who met with this bird in the United States, where he tells us it is rare, says:--"The Shoveler walks prettily, and I have often admired its movements in the puddles formed by heavy dashes of rain in our Southern corn-fields, where I have found it in company with the Wood Duck, Mallard, and Pin-tail. Its flight resembles that of the Blue-winged Teal, and in tenderness as well as in flavour its flesh rivals that of that beautiful bird as an article of food. No sportsman who is a judge will ever pass a Shoveler to shoot a Canvas-back. It is rarely ever found on salt water, and then only when compelled to resort thither." The Shoveler Ducks pass a good deal of the day on dry land; they, however, principally frequent lakes, marshes, rivers, and muddy shores, in search of insects, molluscs, worms, and crustaceans, that form their principal means of subsistence; they also consume grass and other vegetable matter.

The remarkable beak possessed by these birds is admirably suited for the use to which it is destined, its laminated sides being furnished with numerous nerves, which endow it with a delicate sense of touch, enabling it at once to select such matters as are fitted for sustenance. The nest, which is placed on a tuft of herbage, is composed of fine grass, the eggs being carefully covered with down from the mother's breast. The eggs are of a buffy white, tinged with green; their size is about two inches two lines by one inch six lines.

THE MUSK DUCK.

The MUSK DUCK (Cairina moschata) is recognisable by its slender rounded body, tolerably slender neck, and large head, and by its comparatively long powerful beak, which is elevated at its base. The bare bridles are covered with large fleshy warts, and the claws are short and broad. The proportionately short wings have the third quill longer than the rest. The tail is strong and rounded, and composed of eighteen feathers. The plumage of the male is principally brownish black; the top of the head brownish green; the rump, wings, and rest of the upper part of the body are shaded with metallic green and purple-violet. The quills are green, shimmering with dark steel-blue; the wing-covers mostly white, the under parts dull blackish brown; the under tail-covers shining green; the eye yellow; the naked places on the face brownish black; the warty excrescences dark red, partially spotted with black. The bill is black, with a cross stripe of blueish white just in front of the nostrils; towards the point it is of a pale flesh-colour. Length of male, thirty-two inches; breadth, forty-seven inches; length of wing, fourteen inches and a half; length of tail, seven inches and three-quarters. The female is considerably smaller than her mate, but in other respects they very much resemble each other.

All travellers who have had an opportunity of studying these Ducks in a wild state tell us that they are beautiful, lively, and well-flavoured birds, equally attractive to the naturalist and the sportsman. This species is extensively distributed throughout the South American continent, from Paraguay to Guiana, and is to be met with almost in equal numbers near the mouths of rivers flowing into the sea, and amid the swamps and marshes of wild uncultivated parts of the country. The Prince von Wied found it swimming upon rivers in the depths of the primitive forests, and also in still, secluded bays, and upon islands near the sea-coast. Schomburghk observed it at an altitude of 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. During the mid-day heat, and in the afternoon, these birds generally seek out shady places upon the shores and on sandbanks; in the morning and evening they employ themselves in searching for their food, which consists of fishes and snails, also algæ and other water-plants. They invariably pass the night upon trees, and if disturbed in the daytime always seek shelter among their branches; even those which spend their days in marshes and morasses exchange these localities as the sun descends for extensive woods, and perch upon the loftiest trees they can find. Their flight is remarkably rapid, and is always, at their first rising, accompanied by a loud noise, somewhat resembling that produced by a covey of Partridges when first flushed. Their pairing-time seems to be signalised by incessant quarrelling amongst the jealous males; and if the violence of these combats is to be judged of by the number of feathers left upon their battle-fields, they are more than usually pugnacious. Their nest is sometimes built in the hollow of a tree near the sea-shore, sometimes amid the branches. The female parent shows herself most vigilant in protecting her young ones, and should they be attacked, rushes at once to their rescue; when she has succeeded in driving back their enemies she calls them together with a peculiar cry. These birds seem to have two broods during the season--one in May, the other in September.

In Brazil, tame Musk Ducks are everywhere to be met with; indeed, at the period of the visit of the Prince von Wied there seemed to be no others kept in a state of domestication. In Germany, also, breeders have endeavoured to rear them for the table, and speak favourably of the result of their efforts. In their good opinion of these birds we cannot participate. To say nothing of their being unable to endure the cold of our winter so well as other more common species, we consider them to be positively dangerous; they not only attack and do serious damage to other Ducks, but they have been known to set upon children and injure them very seriously. Should any of their companions fall under their displeasure, they follow them unremittingly by land or water, pluck their feathers off and bite them savagely; indeed, they not unfrequently kill them outright by swimming after them and holding them so long under water that they are drowned.

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The DIVING DUCKS (Fuligulæ) were formerly considered as belonging to the same race as the preceding, from which they are now properly separated, seeing that they have no more in common with them than Geese or Swans. The Diving Ducks are at once recognisable by their short, broad, plump body, by their short thick neck, their large head, and moderate-sized beak; the latter is broad, furnished with very short teeth, and occasionally somewhat enlarged at the base. The tarsi are short, feathered quite to the heel, and compressed laterally. The anterior toes are large, long, and strongly webbed. The wings are short and vaulted, the two first quills being the longest. The tail is short, but broad, consisting of from fourteen to eighteen close-set feathers; the general plumage is thick and close, differing in colour according to sex and age, and on the head is generally prolonged into a tuft or crest, which is rendered more conspicuous by the brightness of its colours. These Ducks, in correspondence with their power of diving, always prefer open deep water to such as is either shallow or overgrown with plants. The greater number of them live upon the sea, and only visit fresh water during the breeding season. There are, however, some that must be considered as fresh-water birds, seeing that they spend the greater portion of their lives upon ponds, lakes, or rivers. In consequence of the backward position of their legs, they are obliged, when they stand or walk, to keep themselves very upright; indeed, their gait can scarcely be called a waddle, inasmuch as it is with difficulty that they stagger along. Their flight is, perhaps, better than that of most other Ducks, and when once on the wing they move pretty rapidly through the air. In the water they are quite in their proper element; their broad powerful body is so deeply immersed that only a small portion of the top of the back is visible, and their tail touches the surface of the water. As they row themselves nimbly along, striking well out their broadly-webbed feet, they tilt their body tail upwards, and disappear with a single stroke. These birds are not, like the Divers, able to catch their prey by pursuing it under water; when they dive they seem to plunge more or less perpendicularly down to the bottom, and, after about a minute's absence, again make their appearance nearly upon the same spot from whence they vanished. As it is from the bottom of the water that they obtain their food, even those inhabiting fresh water have necessarily to dive to a considerable depth; whilst those that live in the sea must occasionally plunge still deeper, even to the depth of fifty or sixty fathoms--a fact of which it is easy to convince oneself by examining the contents of their stomachs. A few of them seem to prefer a vegetable diet, but the greater number live upon small bivalve shell-fish and other mollusca; they likewise eat worms, crustaceans, and fishes, while those that inhabit fresh water also feed upon aquatic insects. The booty thus procured from the bottom is also swallowed under water. The Diving Ducks, when employed in fishing for their food, only come to the surface to breathe. Their voice is totally different from that of the Swimming Ducks; instead of quacking they only screech. The manner of their breeding agrees pretty closely with that of ordinary Ducks; still, however, there are points of difference. They breed more in company with each other, and sometimes form regular settlements. Two females even of different species will occasionally lay their eggs in the same nest, sharing the duties of incubation and the charge of the young brood. Some individuals exhibit a sort of mania for brooding; they will slip into the nests of other birds, roll away the eggs, and take possession of them, or even tempt the nestlings away from their proper parents in order to take them under their own care. The eggs are rounder, the shells more closely-grained than those of the Common Ducks, but in other respects resemble them. Some Diving Ducks are valuable on account of the down with which they line their nests, others on account of the excellence of their flesh, but, generally speaking, the latter is rank and ill-flavoured.

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The EIDER DUCKS (Somateria) first claim our attention, inasmuch as they are not only the largest and most beautiful of the Diving Ducks, but also the most useful members of the family, ornamenting the seas that they frequent, and conferring inestimable benefit upon the inhabitants of the inhospitable coasts where they are common. Apart from their very considerable size, the Eider Ducks are distinguishable by their long slender beak, the base of which extends up the forehead, and is divided by a triangular projection of the feathers; the upper mandible, which is brightly coloured, terminates in a large nail-like appendage, covering the entire anterior margin of the bill; the tarsi are short, the feet broad-soled, and the toes long; the wings are of moderate length, the second primary quill being the longest; the tertiary quills, which are sickle-shaped, are deflected, and prolonged so as to overlap the primaries; the tail, which is slightly rounded at its extremity, consists of fourteen or sixteen tapering feathers. The general plumage is soft, thick, and fleecy. In the adult male the prevailing colours are simply black and white; the head, however, is ornamented with sea-green, and the breast suffused with roseate pink or brownish yellow; in one species smalt-blue is likewise observable. The colour of the female is brownish grey or reddish brown. All the various species inhabit the colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Although the name of these Ducks is supposed to be derived from the river Eider, dividing the duchy of Holstein from Lower Schleswig, they are in reality seldom found south of the sixty-third degree of north latitude, from which point to the North Cape they are met with in vast numbers all along the coast and in the fiords that indent it in every direction, stretching sometimes 200 miles inland. The northern shores of Russia, Siberia, and the same latitudes of North America, are also inhabited by these valuable fowls.

The Eider Ducks are strictly sea-birds; upon dry land they walk with extreme difficulty, and as they clumsily waddle along often stumble and fall down flat on the ground. Their flight seems difficult and fatiguing, requiring the sustained rapid action of their proportionately short wings. They rarely rise to any height in the air, but wing their way straight down into the water beneath, and it is only when they reach this, their proper element, that they begin to show what are their real capabilities. They swim with the body less deeply immersed than the generality of Diving Ducks, but their movements are quicker than those of any of their congeners.

The breeding-time of the Eider Ducks is rather late in the season, generally towards the end of May, sometimes in June or July; about this period they assemble upon certain small islands, apparently selected because they are easily accessible; the birds then separate into pairs, each pair proceeding at once to chose a place for establishing its nest, the principal conditions required being seclusion and safety. In localities where the birds are tended as though they were private property, the owners of the islands to which they resort take care to furnish a supply of old boxes, platforms built with stones, boards covered with brushwood, and other similar conveniences for breeding.

Though shy enough before, the birds now become wonderfully tame and fearless; they not only unhesitatingly take possession of the platforms, boxes, ledges, and other contrivances prepared for them, but allow themselves to be driven to the most suitable places, without being at all alarmed or disturbed at the presence of their conductors. They come into the immediate neighbourhood of the solitary huts of their keepers, and will enter them in search of a snug corner in which to build; indeed, it not unfrequently happens that adventurous females will take possession of bedrooms, stables, and other similar localities, to the great inconvenience and discomfort of the keeper's wife. At first the male bird always accompanies his mate in these pedestrian excursions in search of lodgings, which generally occupy them during the morning; about noon they fly away towards the fiords or swim about upon the open sea; but towards evening they come on shore to pass the night. While the female is employed in laying her eggs, the male watches over the nest with great perseverance and devotion; but no sooner is the number of eggs complete, and the female begins in earnest the work of incubation, than the male flies off, leaving both nest and wife, and hastens to join the society of other males who may be disporting themselves far out at sea. Upon the rocks and "scaars" upon the coast of Norway these forlorn widowers may be seen playing together by hundreds. The nest of the Eider Duck is a very simple affair, consisting merely of a few twigs, stalks of seaweed, blades of grass, straw, and similar materials, such as can be picked up in the immediate neighbourhood, heaped together in the most slovenly manner; the rougher the framework, however, so much thicker and more valuable is the rich lining of down--the costly toll which the breeding birds have to pay to the masters of the soil for their temporary residence. After the lapse of a few days, the female sits most assiduously; in places where she is accustomed to the sight of men she will not stir even should they approach her nest; she simply bows her head to the ground, and slightly spreads her wings so as to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. The colour of her plumage generally coincides so exactly with that of the surrounding rocks, that to an unpractised eye the bird is with difficulty distinguishable from the ground on which it sits. We have more than once had convincing proof of the efficacy of this mode of concealment, in the shape of a sharp bite on the leg, inflicted by the beak of a brooding female, of whose presence we were quite unaware before--at the last moment--she flew away. Those females who happen to have taken up their abode in the vicinity of men will allow themselves to be taken up from the nest while their eggs are examined, after which they immediately settle down again to brood, without showing the slightest desire to escape. Frequently we have sat close to their nests for hours together, have stroked their feathers, put our hands between their bodies and their eggs to note the temperature, and yet few of them have stirred from the spot. Some of them would occasionally bite our fingers as if in play, but the majority testified neither timidity nor annoyance. Some we purposely took to a little distance from their nesting-place and placed upon the ground, but they would immediately waddle back to their domicile, arrange the down around the eggs, and quietly resume their position, as if nothing had happened. When left quite to themselves the brooding females quit their nests regularly every morning, taking care, however, to cover their eggs warmly with down, so that they may not be chilled during their absence; having done this, away they fly out to sea, and dive assiduously for half an hour in search of food, and in this short period manage to fill their crops almost to bursting with various kinds of shell-fish, after which they return at once to their charge. The males are much more timid than the females, even when with them at the breeding season or whilst keeping watch over their nests. Should any one approach, they immediately get into a terrible flurry, toss their heads, call loudly to their wives, and after blustering for a little time, fly off to sea, whence they anxiously watch the proceedings of the disturber of their quietude. After the lapse of twenty-five or twenty-six days, the young ones break their shells and make their appearance; they are beautiful little creatures, clad in rich parti-coloured down. From the first moment of their birth they are well able both to swim and to dive; they also walk with considerable facility, even better than their mother, who takes them, before their downy coat has had time to dry, down to the sea. Should the breeding-place be far from the sea, and the departure of the little flock be unusually delayed, the keepers frequently come to their assistance, and, putting the entire brood into a basket, walk with them to the shore, followed by the waddling parents, who seem quite satisfied with the arrangement.

The sea, indeed, is the safest place for these helpless nestlings, as there they can most readily escape from their natural enemies the Falcons, Ravens, and Skuas. Very frequently several mothers, accompanied by their little families, consort together, and then they present to the observer a very attractive spectacle. Should the parent birds perceive that they are followed by a boat, they at once begin to paddle away with all their strength, hoping to escape from their pursuers, and it is not till the boat has come close upon them that they decide upon taking wing; by so doing they are of course compelled to desert the young birds, who, however, seem very well to understand how to provide for their own safety, as they immediately make for the land, and scrambling on to the shore, may be seen running nimbly in search of some convenient hiding-place, dropping down between stones, or concealing themselves behind slight inequalities of the ground, from which they are scarcely distinguishable. Should the threatened danger pass away, they will be found after a little time hastening back to the sea, into which they immediately plunge, and paddle away directly from the shore, until they are joined either by their own mother or by some other elderly female belonging to their flock. Should their mother be killed, the young, if unable to do without assistance, at once join some other family, into which they are received without the slightest reluctance, and tended and cared for by the old birds precisely as if they were their own offspring. The instinct for brooding in the Eider Ducks is indeed very remarkable; they will even steal each other's eggs in order to brood upon them. The nestlings grow rapidly, and often within a week from their birth are well able to procure their own food; they remain, nevertheless, in company with their parents till the early part of the following year. In their earliest infancy they are fed with small crustaceans and other soft-bodied animals; at a later period they live for the most part upon bivalve shell-fish, but likewise feed willingly on fishes, or indeed on any small marine animals that they may meet with. Although the Eider Ducks constitute a considerable portion of the wealth of the countries they inhabit, they are by no means cared for and protected as they might be. Intelligent landholders, whose property the breeding-places are, take the opportunity while the birds are laying to remove some of their eggs, and thus succeed in making them lay a greater number than they otherwise would do. Moreover, they are content to wait patiently until the breeding-time is over before they gather the down from their nests. More generally, however, neither birds nor eggs are taken the least care of. Notwithstanding that their flesh is not by any means palatable, these Ducks are continually persecuted and slaughtered, and the consequence is, that in Spitzbergen and other localities where the sale of the Eider-down used to be reckoned by the hundredweight, it is now reckoned only by pounds. Malmgren assures us that it is a rare thing to see young birds in the autumn; and the bird-catchers are loud in their complaints of a scarcity, for which they have only their own improvidence to blame. In Greenland the diminution, although not quite so conspicuous, is still very great, not more than a thousand pounds being now collected there annually. "Formerly," says Holboell, "the gross quantity of down procured in South Greenland in the course of a year was 5,007 lbs., and North Greenland produced about half that quantity." According to the usual reckoning a dozen nests yield a pound weight of the raw material, so that every year 104,520 birds were not only despoiled of their down but also robbed of their eggs.

THE TRUE EIDER DUCK, OR ST. CUTHBERT'S DUCK.

The TRUE EIDER DUCK, or ST. CUTHBERT'S DUCK (Somateria mollissima), has the cheeks, chin, back, and breast white, the latter with a reddish tinge. Front and sides of the head black; nape, to the throat, pea-green; quills and tail brown, marked on the wings with velvet-black. The eye is reddish brown, the beak greenish yellow, the foot olive-green. The length of this bird is twenty-four inches, the breadth forty; the length of wing eleven inches, and length of tail three inches and a half. The female is smaller than the male, and her plumage rust-red, marked on the head and neck with longitudinal brown streaks, elsewhere with crescent-shaped black spots; her under side with deep brown, slightly lined with black. After the breeding season the plumage of the male loses much of its beautiful glistening appearance, both head and neck become blackish grey, more darkly clouded, the shoulders greyish black, and the region of the crop yellowish white, marked with black and rust-brown upon the borders of the individual feathers. It seems probable that this change of plumage is not produced by moulting, but by a gradual change in the colour of the feathers.

This valuable Duck is met with throughout the northern regions of the globe, its range extending from Jutland to Spitzbergen, and from the west coast of Europe along its northern shores to Greenland and Iceland. It is a constant resident in some of the northern parts of England and Scotland, and has the name of St. Cuthbert's Duck from the numbers that nest in that island. Its most southern breeding-places are upon the Island of Sylt and other small Danish islands in the same latitude, and from thence north it is met with in continually increasing numbers. In Iceland, Greenland, and Norway, it is very abundant, and is preserved with the utmost strictness. Their nests along the coast of Norway, we are told, produce, from the down they yield, on an average, a profit of five pounds a-piece in the year; so that a small barren rock, frequented by these birds, becomes a very valuable property, and has often been the subject of litigation between Norwegian landholders. Some years ago the Eider Fowl were killed in such numbers that their extinction in that country seemed imminent, but in 1847 the Norwegian Parliament passed a law for their relief, and since that time their pursuers have been obliged to confine themselves to robbing the nests; the consequence is that these Ducks are now very plentiful, and from the perfect security in which they live have attained a degree of impudent assurance unsurpassed by the London Sparrows, or their own distant connections on the ornamental waters in our parks. In the town of Tromsöe they come to the house doors to be fed, and walk about as if strongly impressed with the consciousness of their own importance. In the northern parts of Great Britain these birds are seen assembling in groups along the shores of the mainland about April, from whence they cross to the adjacent islands early in May. The nest of this species, which contains from four to ten (generally six or eight) well-shaped, smooth-shelled eggs, usually of a dusky greyish green, is formed of fine seaweed, and is lined, after the eggs are deposited, with down from the mother's breast, placed so thickly that the eggs are completely hidden from view. The down from a single nest, when cleansed, although sufficient in bulk to fill a man's hat, seldom weighs more than one ounce. In northern countries the business of robbing the nests of this valuable material begins soon after the eggs are laid, the female replacing it by a fresh supply from her breast, until it is quite bare, when the male bird in turn strips himself to provide a warm covering for his young. "In a month's time," says Mr. Selby, "the little family are led or carried in their parent's bill to the water, where they swim and dive with facility; the mother meanwhile carefully watching over them to defend them from their biped foes, and feigning lameness to lure their pursuers from the spot."

"The care which the mother takes of her young," says Audubon, "cannot be exceeded. She leads them gently in a close flock in shallow waters, where, by diving, they procure food, and at times, when the young are fatigued and at some distance from the shore, she sinks her body in the water and receives them on her back, where they remain several minutes. At the approach of their merciless enemy, the Black-backed Gull, the mother beats the water with her wings, as if intending to raise the spray around her, and, on her uttering a peculiar sound, the young dive in all directions, while she endeavours to entice the marauder to follow her, by feigning lameness, or she leaps out of the water and attacks her enemy, often so vigorously that, exhausted and disappointed, he is glad to fly off, on which she alights near the rocks, among which she expects to find her brood, and calls them to her side. Now and then I saw two females which had formed an attachment for each other, as if for the purpose of more effectually contributing to the safety of their young, and it was very seldom that I saw these prudent mothers assailed by the Gulls."

We must not omit to mention that the eagerness of these birds for brooding is so great, that, when robbed of their eggs, they have frequently been known to steal the eggs or even the young of others of their species. In its natural state the Eider Duck subsists upon small fish, molluscs, crustaceans, and fish spawn, but when kept confined will eat grain. The flight of this species, which is steady and rapid, is usually carried on near the surface of the water; it dives with facility, and is capable of remaining submerged for a considerable time.

THE KING EIDER.

The KING EIDER (Somateria spectabilis) has the bill, the sides of which are elevated, arched and ridged, surrounded by a fine black band; a similar band runs from the base of the under mandible down each side of the neck. The upper head is grey, the cheeks are sea-green, the neck, back, and sides of the rump white, the front of the breast is light flesh-red; the scapulars, lower part of back, wings, tail, and belly, are white, and the rest of the feathers black; tertials, as in the preceding species, deflected. The eye is brown, beak red, and foot reddish. The female is distinguishable from that of the True Eider by her light reddish brown plumage, and by the structure of the base of the bill.

General Sabine states (in the Appendix to Sir E. Parry's first Voyage) that these birds were abundant in the North Georgian Islands, their nests being placed on the ground in the neighbourhood of fresh-water ponds, and their food consisting of the aquatic vegetation. Sir J. C. Ross says, "Vast numbers of this beautiful Duck resort annually to the shores and islands of the Arctic Regions in the breeding season, and have on many occasions afforded a valuable and salutary supply of fresh provision to the crews of the vessels employed on those seas. On our late voyages comparatively few were obtained, although seen in very great numbers. They do not retire far to the south in the winter, but assemble in large flocks, the males by themselves, and the females with their young brood are often met with in the Atlantic Ocean, far distant from any land, where the numerous crustaceans and other marine animals afford them abundance of food."

This species, which very rarely occurs in Great Britain, was found, on one occasion, according to Dr. Latham, about June, at Papa Westra, one of the Orkney Islands. The eggs, six in number, rather smaller than those of the True Eider Duck, were embedded in down, and placed on a rock overhanging the sea. Nuttall states that the eggs of this bird are whitish, while Yarrell describes them as pale green, and Audubon as of a uniform dull greenish hue. Latham tells us that in Greenland, where the King Ducks are common, the natives assemble in canoes, and by their shouts terrify the birds, which dive to avoid them; but as the place where they are about to emerge is betrayed by the bubbling of the water, their pursuers follow them, and the same game being several times repeated, the birds are at length tired out and easily secured.

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