EIDER DUCK. 409 



August become so bare as to be scarcely able to rise out of 

 the water. 



As soon as the young are hatched they are led to the 

 water, by their attentive parent, and there remain, excepting 

 in the night and in tempestuous weather. Their greatest 

 enemy, besides man, is the Saddle-Back Gull (Lams ma- 

 rinus,) the young, however, elude his pursuit by diving, at 

 which both old and young are very expert. The down, 

 though so valuable, is neglected in Labrador.* It is so 

 light and elastic that two or three pounds of it, pressed into 

 a ball that may be held in the hand, will swell out to such 

 an extent as to fill and distend the foot-covering of a large 

 bed. The best kind, termed live down, is that v/hich the 

 Eider plucks to line the nest, the down taken from the dead 

 bird is greatly inferior, and it is rare that so valuable a bird 

 is now killed for the purpose. To augment the quantity of 

 down from the same bird, the eggs, which are very palata- 

 ble, are taken, and the female again strips herself to cover 

 the second and smaller hatch. If the nest be a second 

 time plundered, as the female can furnish no additional 

 lining, the male now lends his aid, and strips the coveted 

 down from his breast, which is well known by its paler 

 color. The last laying, of only two or three eggs, is always 

 left to kindle their hopes of progeny, for if this be taken 

 they will abandon the place, but thus indulged, they con- 

 tinue to return the follov/ing year, accompanied by their 

 young. The most southern breeding place of this species 

 in Europe is the Fern isles, on the coast of Northumber- 

 land ; and voyagers who have ventured to the dreary ex- 

 tremity of Arctic Europe, hear, in summer, from the cav- 

 erns and rocks of the final Cape, the deep moan of the 

 complaining Eider. The eggs are commonly 5 or 6, but it 



* For this information I am indebted to my very obliging friend, jlr. Audubon. 



35 



