[Pg 158]
All travellers who have had an opportunity of studying these Ducks in a wild state tell us that they are beautiful, lively, and well-flavoured birds, equally attractive to the naturalist and the sportsman. This species is extensively distributed throughout the South American continent, from Paraguay to Guiana, and is to be met with almost in equal numbers near the mouths of rivers flowing into the sea, and amid the swamps and marshes of wild uncultivated parts of the country. The Prince von Wied found it swimming upon rivers in the depths of the primitive forests, and also in still, secluded bays, and upon islands near the sea-coast. Schomburghk observed it at an altitude of 1,500 feet above the level of the sea. During the mid-day heat, and in the afternoon, these birds generally seek out shady places upon the shores and on sandbanks; in the morning and evening they employ themselves in searching for their food, which consists of fishes and snails, also algæ and other water-plants. They invariably pass the night upon trees, and if disturbed in the daytime always seek shelter among their branches; even those which spend their days in marshes and morasses exchange these localities as the sun descends for extensive woods, and perch upon the loftiest trees they can find. Their flight is remarkably rapid, and is always, at their first rising, accompanied by a loud noise, somewhat resembling that produced by a covey of Partridges when first flushed. Their pairing-time seems to be signalised by incessant quarrelling amongst the jealous males; and if the violence of these combats is to be judged of by the number of feathers left upon their battle-fields, they are more than usually pugnacious. Their nest is sometimes built in the hollow of a tree near the sea-shore, sometimes amid the branches. The female parent shows herself most vigilant in protecting her young ones, and should they be attacked, rushes at once to their rescue; when she has succeeded in driving back their enemies she calls them together with a peculiar cry. These birds seem to have two broods during the season—one in May, the other in September.
In Brazil, tame Musk Ducks are everywhere to be met with; indeed, at the period of the visit of the Prince von Wied there seemed to be no others kept in a state of domestication. In Germany, also, breeders have endeavoured to rear them for the table, and speak favourably of the result of their efforts. In their good opinion of these birds we cannot participate. To say nothing of their being unable to endure the cold of our winter so well as other more common species, we consider them to be positively dangerous; they not only attack and do serious damage to other Ducks, but they have been known to set upon children and injure them very seriously. Should any of their companions fall under their displeasure, they follow them unremittingly by land or water, pluck their feathers off and bite them savagely; indeed, they not unfrequently kill them outright by swimming after them and holding them so long under water that they are drowned.
The DIVING DUCKS (Fuligulæ) were formerly considered as belonging to the same race as the preceding, from which they are now properly separated, seeing that they have no more in common with them than Geese or Swans. The Diving Ducks are at once recognisable by their short, broad, plump body, by their short thick neck, their large head, and moderate-sized beak; the latter is broad, furnished with very short teeth, and occasionally somewhat enlarged at the base. The tarsi are short, feathered quite to the heel, and compressed laterally. The anterior toes are large, long, and strongly webbed. The wings are short and vaulted, the two first quills being the longest. The tail is short, but broad, consisting of from fourteen to eighteen close-set feathers; the general plumage is thick and close, differing in colour according to sex and age, and on the head is generally prolonged into a tuft or crest, which is rendered more conspicuous by the brightness of its colours. These Ducks, in correspondence with their power of diving, always prefer open deep water to such as is either shallow or overgrown with plants. The greater number of them live upon the sea, and only visit fresh water during the breeding season. There are, however, some that must be considered as fresh-water birds,[Pg 159] seeing that they spend the greater portion of their lives upon ponds, lakes, or rivers. In consequence of the backward position of their legs, they are obliged, when they stand or walk, to keep themselves very upright; indeed, their gait can scarcely be called a waddle, inasmuch as it is with difficulty that they stagger along. Their flight is, perhaps, better than that of most other Ducks, and when once on the wing they move pretty rapidly through the air. In the water they are quite in their proper element; their broad powerful body is so deeply immersed that only a small portion of the top of the back is visible, and their tail touches the surface of the water. As they row themselves nimbly along, striking well out their broadly-webbed feet, they tilt their body tail upwards, and disappear with a single stroke. These birds are not, like the Divers, able to catch their prey by pursuing it under water; when they dive they seem to plunge more or less perpendicularly down to the bottom, and, after about a minute's absence, again make their appearance nearly upon the same spot from whence they vanished. As it is from the bottom of the water that they obtain their food, even those inhabiting fresh water have necessarily to dive to a considerable depth; whilst those that live in the sea must occasionally plunge still deeper, even to the depth of fifty or sixty fathoms—a fact of which it is easy to convince oneself by examining the contents of their stomachs. A few of them seem to prefer a vegetable diet, but the greater number live upon small bivalve shell-fish and other mollusca; they likewise eat worms, crustaceans, and fishes, while those that inhabit fresh water also feed upon aquatic insects. The booty thus procured from the bottom is also swallowed under water. The Diving Ducks, when employed in fishing for their food, only come to the surface to breathe. Their voice is totally different from that of the Swimming Ducks; instead of quacking they only screech. The manner of their breeding agrees pretty closely with that of ordinary Ducks; still, however, there are points of difference. They breed more in company with each other, and sometimes form regular settlements. Two females even of different species will occasionally lay their eggs in the same nest, sharing the duties of incubation and the charge of the young brood. Some individuals exhibit a sort of mania for brooding; they will slip into the nests of other birds, roll away the eggs, and take possession of them, or even tempt the nestlings away from their proper parents in order to take them under their own care. The eggs are rounder, the shells more closely-grained than those of the Common Ducks, but in other respects resemble them. Some Diving Ducks are valuable on account of the down with which they line their nests, others on account of the excellence of their flesh, but, generally speaking, the latter is rank and ill-flavoured.
The EIDER DUCKS (Somateria) first claim our attention, inasmuch as they are not only the largest and most beautiful of the Diving Ducks, but also the most useful members of the family, ornamenting the seas that they frequent, and conferring inestimable benefit upon the inhabitants of the inhospitable coasts where they are common. Apart from their very considerable size, the Eider Ducks are distinguishable by their long slender beak, the base of which extends up the forehead, and is divided by a triangular projection of the feathers; the upper mandible, which is brightly coloured, terminates in a large nail-like appendage, covering the entire anterior margin of the bill; the tarsi are short, the feet broad-soled, and the toes long; the wings are of moderate length, the second primary quill being the longest; the tertiary quills, which are sickle-shaped, are deflected, and prolonged so as to overlap the primaries; the tail, which is slightly rounded at its extremity, consists of fourteen or sixteen tapering feathers. The general plumage is soft, thick, and fleecy. In the adult male the prevailing colours are simply black and white; the head, however, is ornamented with sea-green, and the breast suffused with roseate pink or brownish yellow; in one species smalt-blue is likewise observable. The colour of the female is brownish grey or reddish brown. All the various species inhabit the colder regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Although the name[Pg 160] of these Ducks is supposed to be derived from the river Eider, dividing the duchy of Holstein from Lower Schleswig, they are in reality seldom found south of the sixty-third degree of north latitude, from which point to the North Cape they are met with in vast numbers all along the coast and in the fiords that indent it in every direction, stretching sometimes 200 miles inland. The northern shores of Russia, Siberia, and the same latitudes of North America, are also inhabited by these valuable fowls.
The Eider Ducks are strictly sea-birds; upon dry land they walk with extreme difficulty, and as they clumsily waddle along often stumble and fall down flat on the ground. Their flight seems difficult and fatiguing, requiring the sustained rapid action of their proportionately short wings. They rarely rise to any height in the air, but wing their way straight down into the water beneath, and it is only when they reach this, their proper element, that they begin to show what are their real capabilities. They swim with the body less deeply immersed than the generality of Diving Ducks, but their movements are quicker than those of any of their congeners.
The breeding-time of the Eider Ducks is rather late in the season, generally towards the end of May, sometimes in June or July; about this period they assemble upon certain small islands, apparently selected because they are easily accessible; the birds then separate into pairs, each pair proceeding at once to chose a place for establishing its nest, the principal conditions required being seclusion and safety. In localities where the birds are tended as though they were private property, the owners of the islands to which they resort take care to furnish a supply of old boxes, platforms built with stones, boards covered with brushwood, and other similar conveniences for breeding.
Though shy enough before, the birds now become wonderfully tame and fearless; they not only unhesitatingly take possession of the platforms, boxes, ledges, and other contrivances prepared for them, but allow themselves to be driven to the most suitable places, without being at all alarmed or disturbed at the presence of their conductors. They come into the immediate neighbourhood of the solitary huts of their keepers, and will enter them in search of a snug corner in which to build; indeed, it not unfrequently happens that adventurous females will take possession of bedrooms, stables, and other similar localities, to the great inconvenience and discomfort of the keeper's wife. At first the male bird always accompanies his mate in these pedestrian excursions in search of lodgings, which generally occupy them during the morning; about noon they fly away towards the fiords or swim about upon the open sea; but towards evening they come on shore to pass the night. While the female is employed in laying her eggs, the male watches over the nest with great perseverance and devotion; but no sooner is the number of eggs complete, and the female begins in earnest the work of incubation, than the male flies off, leaving both nest and wife, and hastens to join the society of other males who may be disporting themselves far out at sea. Upon the rocks and "scaars" upon the coast of Norway these forlorn widowers may be seen playing together by hundreds. The nest of the Eider Duck is a very simple affair, consisting merely of a few twigs, stalks of seaweed, blades of grass, straw, and similar materials, such as can be picked up in the immediate neighbourhood, heaped together in the most slovenly manner; the rougher the framework, however, so much thicker and more valuable is the rich lining of down—the costly toll which the breeding birds have to pay to the masters of the soil for their temporary residence. After the lapse of a few days, the female sits most assiduously; in places where she is accustomed to the sight of men she will not stir even should they approach her nest; she simply bows her head to the ground, and slightly spreads her wings so as to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. The colour of her plumage generally coincides so exactly with that of the surrounding rocks, that to an unpractised eye the bird is with difficulty distinguishable from the ground on which it sits. We have more than once had convincing proof of the efficacy of this mode of concealment, in the shape of a sharp bite on the leg,[Pg 161] inflicted by the beak of a brooding female, of whose presence we were quite unaware before—at the last moment—she flew away. Those females who happen to have taken up their abode in the vicinity of men will allow themselves to be taken up from the nest while their eggs are examined, after which they immediately settle down again to brood, without showing the slightest desire to escape. Frequently we have sat close to their nests for hours together, have stroked their feathers, put our hands between their bodies and their eggs to note the temperature, and yet few of them have stirred from the spot. Some of them would occasionally bite our fingers as if in play, but the majority testified neither timidity nor annoyance. Some we purposely took to a little distance from their nesting-place and placed upon the ground, but they would immediately waddle back to their domicile, arrange the down around the eggs, and quietly resume their position, as if nothing had happened. When left quite to themselves the brooding females quit their nests regularly every morning, taking care, however, to cover their eggs warmly with down, so that they may not be chilled during their absence; having done this, away they fly out to sea, and dive assiduously for half an hour in search of food, and in this short period manage to fill their crops almost to bursting with various kinds of shell-fish, after which they return at once to their charge. The males are much more timid than the females, even when with them at the breeding season or whilst keeping watch over their nests. Should any one approach, they immediately get into a terrible flurry, toss their heads, call loudly to their wives, and after blustering for a little time, fly off to sea, whence they anxiously watch the proceedings of the disturber of their quietude. After the lapse of twenty-five or twenty-six days, the young ones break their shells and make their appearance; they are beautiful little creatures, clad in rich parti-coloured down. From the first moment of their birth they are well able both to swim and to dive; they also walk with considerable facility, even better than their mother, who takes them, before their downy coat has had time to dry, down to the sea. Should the breeding-place be far from the sea, and the departure of the little flock be unusually delayed, the keepers frequently come to their assistance, and, putting the entire brood into a basket, walk with them to the shore, followed by the waddling parents, who seem quite satisfied with the arrangement.