ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 137 



for instance, and in the fiords farther to the northward, they 

 are seen in immense numbers, where boats may be laden 

 with their eggs without difficulty, and a good marksman 

 may easily possess himself of many of the birds themselves, 

 as both male and female are not much alarmed at the 

 presence of strangers who come so unexpectedly as the 

 whale hunters do. The great concern of the season never 

 allowing the ships to remain long in one station, unless 

 impeded by the ice, or the Avhales appearing in great 

 number, prevents the slaughter of the eider duck to the 

 amount that would otherwise occur every year. 



The masters of the whale ships are anxious to fetch home 

 the skins of the eider ducks, as presents to their friends, 

 when the coarser feathers are plucked off, and the skin 

 stretched so as to be preserved dry with the down on ; in 

 which state they are considered highly salutary in applica- 

 tion to the breasts of newly lain-in women. These skins 

 form the great luxury of such of the natives of Greenland 

 as can reserve them for their private use ; but they are of 

 too much value in the estimation of the Danes not to induce 

 a barter of them for some iron nails, and other such im- 

 portant equivalents. 



Anas Boschas (the common wild duck) is also very 

 numerous. 



Procellaria Glacialis (fulmar petrel, or mallemuck). — 

 There are many varieties of this bird. If colour constitute 



T 



