THE SOCIAL LIFE OF ARCTIC BIRDS. 213 



them to her nest, and hatch them out with her own. The robbed duck 

 discovers the theft immediately on her return, but gives no sign of con- 

 cern about it, seeming to say, " We will wait till you go away, and 

 then I shall take ray revenge." Her time comes at last ; and thus no 

 duck knows whether it is sitting on its own eggs or another's. 



The young come out from the eggs at the end of thirty-six days, 

 but do not stay in the nest any longer than till they have become com- 

 pletely dry, when the mother takes them to the sea, which she does 

 not leave till the young have become tired in this their first swimming- 

 lesson, and can no longer ride on the backs of the strong waves. It is 

 usually a considerable distance from the nest to the shore, and the 

 chicks are exposed to many enemies in the shape of hawks, ravens, and 

 gulls, which keep an eager lookout for them. Now the Northman 

 steps in with his protecting hand and comes along with a pair of large 

 baskets, into one of which he puts the young birds and into the other 

 the precious down, while he goes from nest to nest, examining them to 

 see in what ones the brood is ready to be removed. Hence he takes 

 the young ones to the sea, while the mother waddles along behind, well 

 knowing where he is leading her. At the shore he turns the basket 

 over and goes away, leaving it to the old birds to find their own. They 

 plunge into the flock, and each speedily gets as many of the chicks as 

 she can. After a few hours the family bonds are closely sealed again, 

 and each mother has gathered her little ones around her, which she 

 treats with the most tender care, while they in return show the most 

 grateful affection for her. They go with the old ones into the water, 

 crawl around on their backs, and receive instruction in swimming and 

 diving for mussels, the mother in the last exercise going down with a 

 chick under each wing. In the course of eight weeks the young be- 

 come fully instructed, and are ready to begin the struggle for exist- 

 ence on their own account. Now appears the Herr Papa again upon 

 the scene, when there is nothing more to be done, and proudly con- 

 ducts the whole company over the open sea to their winter home. 

 Such is the history of the best-known and most interesting of the 

 birds that people the mountains of the North. I have thought it 

 proper to give in brief a clear picture of its habits, because it forms in 

 some respects the central point of the motley, busy company. We 

 will now sketch in broad outline a general picture of one of these bird- 

 mountains. 



The storm-gulls are inseparable from the eider-duck. If there are 

 ten thousand pairs of ducks on a mountain, then the number of gulls 

 nesting there will be at least fifty thousand. They come rushing up 

 in graceful, rapid flight, presenting a pleasant aspect with their snow- 

 white and dark-colored feathers. They are the real but innocent be- 

 trayers of the eider-colonies, for where gulls circle in great numbers 

 around the island one is sure to find nests of down. The host is fur- 

 ther increased by large flocks of a kind of snipe which are distin- 



