I EIDER.
(ho birds in my collection) reported having met with a drake in immature plumage off Shorohum on the
previous day. The fact that one or two specimens (immature mates) were procured along the shorn near
Hotlingdean within a week of this date left little doubt as to the truth or the statement. It was not till
the 4th of October, 1883, when a lloek of eight immature birds busily tiring over a stony bank a short
distance off the lioach near Lancing allowed the bout to run down before a fresh northerly breeze, that I
obtained specimens off the Sussex coast. The two birds (both drakes) secured on this occasion exhibited
a curious and mollled state of plumage: one of these juveniles being figured in Plate I I . a description is
rendered unnecessary; the colours of the soft parts, however, were as follows r—Iris dark hazel; bill
at the point a pale greenish yellow, gradually changing towards the base into a blue-slate tint, a small
oblong patch of yellow showing close in front of the nostril. The noil pale greenish yellow, the colouring
being fainter than the bill. The lower mandible blue; legs and toes a dull olive-yellow; webs and nails
a dark grey, almost black. All these colours commenec to change within an hour or two of the death
or the bird, and it is only by means of a plate lire-size that any idea of the tints of the beak and legs can
1M given. The only food they contained consisted of small crabs, mussels, and shrimps, with a quantity of lino
grit, diminutive beach-stones, and a little weed.
Since this dale I have frequently recognized Eiders off the coast of Sussex; they were generally found
diving for food over some liank where mussels, crabs, and other shell-tish abounded, or resting quietly out
at sea a few miles off the land in company with Velvet and Common Scoters. The latest entry in my notes
referring to this species is under date of Member 29, 18S3; the weather at the time being thick, without
n breath of air, and the water as smooth as glass, il was impossible to sail down upon the flock. These Eiders
were seven in number, two of which showed a small amount of white on the head and baek, the remainder of
the party appearing to be females. Owing to the presence of aliout one hundred and fifty Scoters, whoso
actions were very unsettled, constantly Hi iug round, alighting a nil rising agaiu repeatedly, there was no chance
for a shot, and I failed to secure a specimen.
Along the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk small flocks were also occasionally observed in the winter
of 18^1 and the following year. I have here met with them off Ilaslmro' and Caistcr, also in Yarmouth
and Cortou Roads, and again further south off Pakelield and Covebithe, Though for the most part alone,
they were occasionally in company, over the banks that formed their feeding-groumis, with Common and Velvet
Scoters, as well as Long-tailed Ducks and Seaup ; un rising on wing, however, they invariably separated from
the rest of the fowl*.
According to flic observations I have been enabled to make, the food of this species consists of various
kinds of small shell-fish and marine animalcules, seaweed and grit as well as stones appearing to be swallowed
to assist digestion. S|iecimens shot in the Firth of Forth in Hay 1*117 contained large quantities or musselshells
with a few small winkles, also sand and weed.
Having never kept Eiders in confinement, 1 can offer no opinion as to the age at which the males assume
the foil adult plumage, though doubtless it is not earlier than their filth year.
The following description of the Eider, discovered in an old history of the Western Isles, may
possibly prove amusing, if not instructive; to the best of my knowledge it has not been quoted by any
ornithological writer:—
" In this islnudt there is a rare species of bird, uuknown to other regions, which is called ColehaJ,
little inferior in size to a Goose, all covered with down, and when it batches il easts its leathers,
* In December I N 1 received word that two or thrco Eider* in immature plumage were lately ubliiined on Unidi.n Water, near
or the continued SsSMSSBI ef a faeiri g«le off tt.c roast SMAU at-count f,r MM unusual familinril).
* Lewis. : Evident 1} from the C.elic "CeJeach."
EIDER,
leaving the whole body naked, after which they betake themselves to the sea, and are never seen again
till the next spring. What is also singular in them, their feather! have no quill ; but a line light down
without any hard point, and soft as wool, covers the whole body. It has a tuft on its head resembling
that of a Peacock, and a train larger than that of a house-eock. The hen has not such ornament and
beauty."
A few words with reference to the several stages of Ibis species figured in the Tlates, together with the
localities in which they were procured, may not he out of place.
Plate I. A female and brood (proliably about three weeks old), obtained lictween the islands of Fidra and
Ebris, in the Firth of Porta, during the second week in June 1S07.
Plate I I . Male and female in plumage of first autumn: the former shot in the Channel off Lancing, in
Sussex, early in October 18*2 ; the latter in Gullane Bay, in the Firth of Forth, on the 10th of September,
1871.
Plate I I I . Adult male, obtained near the island of Fidra in May 1S07, and a male showing one of the
intermediate stages of plumage, killed near the same spot in September 1871.