COMM O N E ID E R .
Somateria mollissima (Linn.).
COMMON EIDER.
SOMATERIA MOLLISSIMA {Linn.).
Anas mollissima, Linn. S. N. i. p. 198 (1766); Naum. xii.
p. 252.
Somateria mollissima, Macg. v. p. 147; Hewitson, ii. p. 414;
Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 457; Dresser, vi. p. 629.
Morillon Eider, French; Eider-Gans, German.
As this well-known and conspicuous Duck is entirely
unknown to me in a state of freedom, I will content
myself by summing up the main points related by our
standard authorities concerning its habits. It breeds on
the Fame and Coquet Islands and certain localities along
the whole east coast of Scotland, in the Orkneys, Shet-
lands, and many of the Western Isles, including those
of the St. Kilda group. To other parts of our coast it is
an irregular and accidental winter visitor, and is said to
be extremely rare on the shores of Ireland. Besides the
British localities above mentioned, Iceland, the Faroes,
Spitzbergen, and many of the islands off the Scandinavian
coasts are frequented by these Ducks in great
numbers during the breeding-season, when they become