Birds and Birding's Guide to:

Watching THE GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS

THE SWANS, GEESE, DUCKS, AND MERGANSERS

Steller's Duck

Although it would be of interest to recount the life histories of all these birds, lack of space necessitates confining our attention mainly to a single species, and as perhaps the best known this may be the European Eider.

Although the birds themselves may not be very generally known, since much of their life is spent at sea, the uses to which the soft down has long been put makes them widely familiar. This bird makes its summer home well within the Arctic Circle on the islands and rocky coasts of Spitzbergen, Iceland, Nova Zembla, and the islands north of Siberia. Here they resort in thousands and in many places are carefully protected and induced to nest by the inhabitants, who profit largely by gathering the down. The following graphic account is from the pen of Mr. C. W. Shepard, who describes the conditions he found on the northern coast of Iceland: “The islands of Viga and CEdey are their headquarters in the northwest of Iceland.

In these they live in undisturbed tranquillity. They have become almost domesticated, and are found in vast multitudes, as the young remain and breed at the place of their birth. As the island was approached we could see flocks upon flocks of the sacred birds, and could hear their cooing at a great distance. We landed on a rocky, wave-worn shore. It was the most wonderful ornithological sight conceivable. The Ducks and their nests were everywhere.

Great brown Ducks sat upon their nests in masses, and at every step started from under our feet. It was with difficulty that we avoided treading on some of the nests. On the coast of the opposite shore was a wall built of large stones, just above the high-water level, about three feet in height, and of considerable thickness. At the bottom, on both sides of it, alternate stones had been left out, so as to form a series of square compartments for the Ducks to nest in.

Almost every compartment was occupied, and as we walked along the shore, a long line of Ducks flew out, one after the other. The surface of the water also was perfectly white Drakes with the bill until drowned, preferring thus to die than to come to the surface to be captured."

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