COMMON, OR WHITE-BACKED EIDER. 155 



but none at any considerable elevation, at least none of my 

 party, including the sailors, found any in such a position. 

 The nest, which is sunk as much as possible into the ground, 

 is formed of sea-weeds, mosses, and dried twigs, so matted 

 and interlaced as to give an appearance of neatness to the 

 central cavity, which rarely exceeds seven inches in diameter. 

 In the beginning of June the eggs are deposited, the male 

 attending upon the female the whole time. The eggs, which 

 are regularly placed on the moss and weeds of the nest, with- 

 out any down, are generally from five to seven, three inches 

 in length, two inches and one-eighth in breadth, being thus 

 much larger than those of the Domestic Duck, of a regular 

 oval form, smooth-shelled, and of a uniform pale olive-green. 

 When the full complement of eggs has been laid, the female 

 begins to pluck some down from the lower part of the body ; 

 this operation is daily continued for some time, until the 

 roots of the feathers, as far forward as she can reach, are 

 quite bare, and as clean as a wood from which the shrubbery 

 has been cleared away. This down she disjjoses beneath and 

 around the eggs. When she leaves the nest to go in search 

 of food she places it over the eggs, and in this manner it may 

 be presumed to keep up their warmth, although it does not 

 always ensure their safety, for the Black-backed Gull is apt to 

 remove the covering, and suck, or otherwise destroy the eggs. 

 No sooner are the young hatched than they are led to the 

 water, even when it is a mile distant, and the travelling diffi- 

 cult, both for the parent bird and her brood; but when it 

 happens that the nest has been placed among rocks over the 

 water, the Eider, like the Wood Duck, carries the young in 

 her bill to their favourite element. The care which the 

 mother takes of her young for two or three weeks, cannot be 

 exceeded. She leads them gently in a close flock in shallow 

 water, where, by diving, they procure food, and at times, 

 when the young are fatigued, and at some distance from the 

 shore, she sinks her body in the water, and receives them on 

 her back, where they remain several minutes. At the 

 approach of their merciless enemy, the Black-backed Gull, 

 the mother beats the water with her wings, as if intending to 

 raise the spray round her ; and, on her uttering a peculiar 



