. Feathered game of the Northeast . Not exactly! Whenthe house-keeping cares show on the familyhorizon, a cloud no larger than a mans hand,Mr. Eider joins with other worthless good-for-naughts to spend his days and nights away fromhome, living almost entirely at sea until thenesting and moulting seasons are over and hisoffspring have become self-su^jporting. These are the largest of our ducks, eminentlyfitted to take care of themselves, and one of thefew species which seem to be holding their ownin the struggle against the destroyer. The difference between the American and theOld World type, r
. Feathered game of the Northeast . Not exactly! Whenthe house-keeping cares show on the familyhorizon, a cloud no larger than a mans hand,Mr. Eider joins with other worthless good-for-naughts to spend his days and nights away fromhome, living almost entirely at sea until thenesting and moulting seasons are over and hisoffspring have become self-su^jporting. These are the largest of our ducks, eminentlyfitted to take care of themselves, and one of thefew species which seem to be holding their ownin the struggle against the destroyer. The difference between the American and theOld World type, represented by the GreenlandEider, which is occasionally taken on our coast,and is perhaps a more northern race than ourown, lies principally in the shape of the frontalprocess and bill; these, in the American bird,are heavier and the tips of the nose ornamentsare rounder and fuller than in the Europeanspecies. One must be a close observer, how-ever, to note the difference and distinguish thevisitor among a number of our own 9 o THE KING EIDER 387 THE KING EIDER. (Somateria spectabilis.) The Eiders of North America include fivespecies. Of these the American, Greenlandand King Eiders are visitors or residents onthe northeastern coast. The present species isanother ^Sea Duck. It lives mostly in theopen ocean and spends comparatively little timeashore even for one of his seafaring race. Hisis a life of perfect independence. He is athome wherever he alights on blue water andnever a worriment is his—never a fear of pur-suing gunner comes into his mind to ruffle hisplacid days. Often large flocks of the KingEiders are found in mid-ocean, hundreds ofmiles from any land, feeding upon the driftingseaweed which furnishes abundantly every-thing needful. Their maritime existence and the rarity oftheir visits ashore, together with their heavybodies and short legs combine to make their gaitnearly as graceful as that of their human rep-resentative, the old salt. In fact, it is a most
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
