The following account of the breeding of the Eider at
the Fame Islands is given by Selby :—“ About April these
birds are seen assembling in groups along the shores of the
main land, from whence they cross over to the islands
early in May. As soon as the females begin to lay, which
is usually about the 20tli, the drakes leave them, and again
spread themselves along the adjoining coast. The usual
number of eggs is five, of a pale asparagus green, and
rather large, measuring three inches in length, by two
inches and one line in breadth. The nest is composed of
fine sea-weed, and as incubation proceeds, a lining of down,
plucked by the bird from her own body, is added : this
increases from day to day, and at last becomes so considerable
in quantity, as to envelope and entirely conceal the eggs
from view, no doubt contributing by its effect, as a nonconductor
of heat, to the perfect evolution of the foetus. Incubation
lasts a month. The food of the Eider consists of the
young of the different muscles that cover the rocks, and
other species of bivalves. The young are reared with difficulty
in confinement, and being very bad walkers, are subject
to frequent accidents in the poultry-yard. Like all the
Anatidce possessing a lobated hind toe, they dive with
facility, and remain submerged for a long time.”
In Iceland each nest produces an average of one-sixth
of a pound of down, which is worth from 12s. to 15s. per
pound on the spot, and it requires about l j lb. to make
a single coverlet. Most of the eggs are taken and pickled
for winter consumption, only a few being left to hatch.
Eider Ducks are easily domesticated, and not only will they
feed freely on worms, slugs, &c., but they also devour voraciously
the raw flesh of other birds. In the Zoological
Gardens, broods were hatched out in 1841,1848, and 1849.
In the adult male the beak is dusky-green ; the nail
white; the hides brown; top of the head velvet-black;
lore and cheeks white ; ear-coverts and occiput pale green;
back, scapulars, tertials, point of wing, and smaller wing-
coverts white ; greater wing-coverts black; primaries and
secondaries dull black; inner secondaries yellowish-white,
elongated, drooping ; rump black ; tail-feathers dull black ;
chin and upper part of neck in front white ; lower part of
neck pale buff; breast, belly, sides, and all the under
surface black, except a white patch on the flank;- legs,
toes, and their membranes dusky-green. The whole length
is twenty-five inches ; from the point of the wing to the end
of the longest quill-feather eleven inches.
Young males of the Eider are at first like the adult
female, but wdien changing in their first winter the head
and neck are mottled with two shades of dark brown, with
a few white feathers appearing through in different parts;
lower portion of neck, and upper part of the back, mottled
black and white; wing-coverts and inner secondaries becoming
white ; the rest of the plumage black; legs and bill
greenish-grey. The pure white colour is assumed by slow
degrees, and the appearance of adult birds is not attained
till the third winter.
The female is a pale rufous-brown, varied with darker
marks : similar to but less ruddy than the female of the
King Duck hereafter figured ; the quill and tail-feathers dull
black.
The following notes in reference to the periodical changes
of the plumage in old and young Eider Ducks, were supplied
to the Author by James Hunt, then head-keeper at the
Zoological Gardens in the Regent’s Park: —
August 21st, 1845. An old male began to lose its white
or breeding plumage about the 7tli of June, and by the
20th of July it was almost black : a few white feathers being
left on the back, which did not disappear. This change
seemed to be an alteration in colour, as very few feathers
were shed during the change. He remained in this state of
plumage till about the 4th of August, when he commenced
moulting, and about the 14tli, the white feathers on the
breast and back began to reappear. On the 21st he was
full of new feathers and getting the white plumage fast.
A male bird of the year 1842, received from Norway in
October 1844, did not acquire his perfect breeding plumage
this last summer (1845).