placed on the sheltered shelvings of rocks a few feet above high-water
mark, but none at any considerable elevation, at least none of my party,
including the sailors, found any in such a position. The nest, which is
sunk as much as possible into the ground, is formed of sea-weeds, mosses,
and dried twigs, so matted and interlaced as to give an appearance of neatness
to the central cavity, which rarely exceeds seven inches in diameter. In
the beginning of June the eggs are deposited, the male attending upon
the female the whole time. The eggs, which are regularly placed on the
moss and weeds of the nest, without any down, are generally from five to
seven, three inches in length, two inches and one eighth in breadth, being
thus much larger than those of the domestic Duck, of a regular oval
form, smooth-shelled, and of a uniform pale olive green. I may here
mention, by the way, that they afford delicious eating. I have not been
able to ascertain the precise period of incubation. If the female is not
disturbed, or her eggs removed or destroyed, she lays only one set in the
season, and as soon as she begins to sit the male leaves her. When the
full complement of eggs has been laid, she begins to pluck some down
from the lower parts of her body; this operation is daily continued for
some time, until the roots of the feathers, as far forward as she can reach,
are quite bare, and as clean as a wood from which the undergrowth has
been cleared away. This down she disposes beneath and around the
eggs. When she leaves the nest to go in search of food, she places it
over the eggs, and in this manner, it may be presumed to keep up their
warmth, although it does not always ensure their safety, for the Blackbacked
Gull is apt to remove the covering, and suck or otherwise destroy
the eggs.
No sooner are the young hatched than they are led to the water, even
when it is a mile distant, and the travelling difficult, both for the parent
bird and her brood; but when it happens that the nest has been placed
among rocks over the water, the Eider, like the Wood Duck, carries the
young in her bill to their favourite element. I felt very anxious to find
a nest placed over a soft bed of moss or other plants, to see, whether, like
the Wood Duck on such occasions, the Eider would suffer her young ones
to fall from the nest; but unfortunately I had no opportunity of observing
a case of this kind. The care which the mother takes of her young
for two or three weeks, 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 to 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 gull.
The young, at the age of one week, are of a dark mouse colour, thickly
covered with soft warm down. Their feet at this period are proportionally
very large and strong. By the 20th of July they seemed to be all
hatched. They grew rapidly, and when about a fortnight old were, with
great difficulty, obtained, unless during stormy weather, when they at
times retired from the sea to shelter themselves under the shelvings of the
rocks at the head of shallow bays. It is by no means difficult to rear
them, provided proper care be taken of them, and they soon become quite
gentle and attached to the place set apart for them. A fisherman of
Eastport, who carried eight or ten of them from Labrador, kept them
several years in a yard close to the water of the bay, to which, after they
were grown, they daily betook themselves, along with some common ducks,
regularly returning on shore towards evening. Several persons who had
seen them, assured me that they were as gentle as their associates, and although
not so active on land, were better swimmers, and moved more
gracefully on the water. They were kept until the male birds acquired
their perfect plumage and mated; but some gunners shot the greater
number of them one winter day, having taken them for wild birds, although
none of them could fly, they having been pinioned. I have no
doubt that if this valuable bird were domesticated, it would prove a great
acquisition, both on account of its feathers and down, and its flesh as an
article of food. I am persuaded that very little attention would be necessary
to effect this object. When in captivity, it feeds on different kinds
of grain and moistened corn-meal, and its flesh becomes excellent. Indeed,
the sterile females which we procured at Labrador in considerable num.-