ber, tasted as well as the mallard. The males were tougher and more
fishy, so that we rarely ate of them, although the fishermen and settlers
paid no regard to sex in this matter.
When the female Eider is suddenly discovered on her nest, she takes
to wing at a single spring; but if she sees her enemy at some distance,
she walks off a few steps, and then flies away. If unseen by a person
coming near, as may often happen, when the nest is placed under the
boughs of the dwarf fir, she will remain on it, although she may hear
people talking. On such occasions my party frequently discovered the
nests by raising the pine branches, and were often as much startled as the
ducks themselves could be, as the latter instantly sprung past them on
wing, uttering a harsh cry. Now and then some were seen to alight on
the ground within fifteen or twenty yards, and walk as if lame and broken
winged, crawling slowly away, to entice their enemies to go in pursuit.
Generally, however, they would fly to the sea, and remain there in
a large flock until their unwelcome visitors departed. When pursued by
a boat, with their brood around them, they allowed us to come up to
shooting distance, when, feigning decrepitude, they would fly off, beating
the water with partially extended wings, while the young either dived or
ran on the surface with wonderful speed, for forty or fifty yards, then
suddenly plunged, and seldom appeared at the surface unless for a moment.
The mothers always flew away as soon as their brood dispersed,
and then ended the chase. The cry or note of the female is a hoarse rolling
croak ; that of the male I never heard.
Should the females be robbed of their eggs, they immediately go off
in search of mates, whether their previous ones or not I cannot tell, although
I am inclined to think so. However this may be, the duck in
such a case soon meets with a drake, and may be seen returning the same
day with him to her nest. They swim, fly, and walk side by side, and
by the end of ten or twelve days the male takes his leave, and rejoins
his companions out at sea, while the female is found sitting on a new set
of eggs, seldom, however, exceeding four. But this happens only at an
early period of the season, for I observed that as soon as the males had
begun to moult, the females, whose nests had been plundered, abandoned
the place. One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with
these birds is, that the females with broods are fully three weeks later
in moulting than the males, whereas those which do not breed begin
to moult as early as they. This may probably seem strange, but I
became quite satisfied of the fact while at Labrador, where, from the
number which we procured in a state of change, and the vast quantities
every now and then in sight, our opportunities of observing these birds
in a perfectly natural state were ample.
Some authors have said that the males keep watch near the females;
but, although this may be the case in countries such as Greenland and
Iceland, where the Eiders have been trained into a state of semi-domestication,
it certainly was not so in Labrador. Not a single male did we
there see near the females after incubation had commenced, unless in the
case mentioned above, when the latter had been deprived of their eggs.
The males invariably kept aloof and in large flocks, sometimes of a hundred
or more individuals, remaining out at sea over large banks with
from seven to ten fathoms of water, and retiring at night to insular rocks.
It seemed very wonderful that in the long lines in which we saw them
travelling, we did not on any occasion discover among them a young
bird, or one not in its mature plumage. The young males, if they breed
before they acquire their full colouring, must either be by themselves at
this period, or with the barren females, which, as I have already said,
separate from those that are breeding. I am inclined to believe that
the old males commence their southward migration before the females
or the young, as none were to be seen for about a fortnight before the
latter started. In winter, when these Ducks are found on the Atlantic
shores of the United States, the males and females are intermingled; and
at the approach of spring the mated pairs travel in great flocks, though
disposed in lines, when you can distinctly see individuals of both sexes
alternating.
The flight of the Eider is firm, strong, and generally steady. Thev
propel themselves by constant beats of the wings, undulating their lines
according to the inequality of surface produced by the waves, over which
they pass at the height of a few yards, and rarely more than a mile from
the shores. Few fly across the Gulf of St Lawrence, as they prefer following
the coasts of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, to the eastern entrance
of the straits of Belle Isle, beyond which many proceed farther
north, while others ascend that channel and settle for the season along
the shores of Labrador, as far up as Partridge Bay, and still farther up
the St Lawrence. Whilst on our waters, or at their breeding grounds,
the Eiders are not unfrequently seen flying much higher than when
travelling, but in that case they seem to be acting with the intention of