eider duck

any of several large sea ducks of the genus Soamateria and allied genera of the Northern Hemisphere, the females of which yield eiderdown.

Origin of eider duck

First recorded in 1850–55

A kind of eider-duck provided the crew with very palatable food, which relieved the monotony of the salt meat.

A Winter Amid the Ice |Jules Verne
And from every rocky islet came the calling of birds—of loon and gull and eider-duck.

Mothwise |Knut Hamsun
But I was ashamed to show more fear than the eider-duck hunter.

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth |Jules Verne
Some suppose that the eider-duck could be easily domesticated.

The Young Voyageurs |Mayne Reid

This would have been an unkind cut to ordinary mortals, but it fell as harmless on Ippegoo as water on the back of the eider-duck.

Red Rooney |R.M. Ballantyne