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 number, 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. They 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 guarding against their enemy man. The velocity of their flight has been ascertained to be about eighty miles in the hour.
This species dives with great agility, and can remain a considerable time under water, often going down in search of food to the depth of eight or ten fathoms, or even more. When wounded, however, they soon become fatigued in consequence of the exertion used in diving, and may be overtaken by a well-manned boat in the course of half an hour or so, as when fatigued they swim just below the surface, and may be struck dead with an oar or a boat-hook.
Their food consists principally of shell-fish, the shells of which they seem to have the power of breaking into pieces. In many individuals which I opened, I found the entrails almost filled with small fragments of shells mixed with other matter. Crustaceous animals and their roe, as well as that of various fishes, I also found in their stomach, along with pebbles sometimes as large as a hazel nut. The œsophagus, which is in form like a bag, and is of a leathery firm consistence, was often found distended with food, and usually emitted a very disagreeable fishy odour. The gizzard is extremely large and muscular. The trachea of the young male, so long as it remains in its imperfect plumage, or for the first twelve months, does not resemble that of the old male; but on this subject I intend to speak at length on another occasion. The males do not obtain their full plumage until the fourth winter. They at first resemble the mother, then gradually become pie-bald, but not in less time than between two and three years.
The Eider Duck takes a heavy shot, and is more easily killed on wing than while swimming. When on shore they mark your approach while you are yet at a good distance, and fly off before you come within shot. Sometimes you may surprise them while swimming below high rocks, and, if you are expert, then shoot them; but when they have first seen you, it is seldom that you can procure them, as they dive with extreme agility. While at Great Macatina Harbour, we discovered a large basin of water, communicating with the sea by a very narrow passage about thirty yards across, and observed that at particular stages of the tides the Eider Ducks entered and returned by it. By hiding ourselves on both sides of this channel, we succeeded in killing a good number, but rarely more than one at a shot, although sometimes we obtained from a single file as many as we had of gun-barrels.
Excepting in a single nest, I found no down clean, it having been in every other instance more or less mixed with small dry fir twigs and bits of grass. When cleaned, the down of a nest rarely exceeds an ounce in weight, although, from its great elasticity, it is so bulky as to fill a hat, or if properly prepared even a larger space. The eggers of Labrador usually collect it in considerable quantity, but at the same time make such havock among the birds, that at no very distant period the traffic must cease.
Anas mollissima, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 198.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 845.