92 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



undoubtedly prove a profitable industry and would also serve to 

 protect the birds if properly conducted. The following account of 

 how it is done in Iceland, written by C. W. Shepard, is published 

 by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1884) : 



The isIaiKls of Vigr and Oedey are their headquarters in the northwest of 

 Iceland. In these they live in undisturbed tranquility. They have become 

 almost domesticated, and are found in vast multitudes, as the young remain 

 and breed in the place of their birth. As the island (Vigr) was approached we 

 could see flocks upon flocks of the sacred birds, and could hear their cooing 

 at a great distance. We landed on a rocky, wave-worn shore. It was the 

 most wonderful ornithological sight conceivable. The ducks and their nests 

 were everywhere. . Great brown ducks sat upon their nests in masses, and at 

 every step started irom under our feet. It was with difficulty that ^^'e avoided 

 treading on some of the nests. On the coast of the opposite shore was a wall 

 built of large stones, just above the high-water level, about 3 feet in height, 

 and of considerable thickness. At the bottom, on both sides of it, alternate 

 stones had been left out so as to form a series of square compartments for 

 the ducks to nest in. Almost every compartment was occupied, and as we 

 walked along the shore a long line of ducks flew out, one after the other. 

 The surface of the water also v/as perfectly white with drakes, who welcomed 

 their brown wives with loiid and clamorous cooing. The house itself was a 

 marvel. The earthen walls that surrounded it and the window embrasures 

 were occupied by ducks. On the ground the house was fringed with ducks. 

 On the turf slopes of its roof we could see ducks, and a duck sat on the door 

 scraper. The grassy banks had been cut into square patches, about 18 inches 

 having been removed, and each hollow had been filled with ducks. A windmill 

 was infested, and so were all the outhouses, mounds, rocks, and crevices. The 

 ducks were everywhere. Many were so tame that we could stroke them on 

 their nests ; and the good lady told us that there was scarcely a duck on the 

 island that would not allow her to take its eggs without flight or fear. Our 

 hostess told us that when she first became possessor of the island the produce of 

 down from the ducks was not more than 15 pounds in a year ; but that under 

 her careful nurture of 20 years it has risen to nearly 100 pounds annually. 

 Most of the eggs are taken and pickled for winter consumption, one or two 

 only being left in each nest to hatch. 



Fall. — By the middle of the summer, or as soon as the egg-laying 

 season is over, the adult eiders desert their mates and begin to 

 move away from their breeding grounds. This might be called 

 the beginning of the fall migration. The immature males of the 

 previous year keep by themselves all summer in large flocks and 

 do not even now mingle with the old males; they spend the summer 

 well out at sea near the drift ice. The young eiders often are late 

 in hatching and are slow in developing, so that it is often quite late 

 in the fall before they are able to fly away with their mothers and 

 joijj the mixed flocks in their winter resorts. All have to undergo 

 the annual summer double molt, which lasts well into the fall and 

 delays migration, for they are absolutely flightless for a few weeks 

 while the wing quills are molting. So the fall migration is verv^ 

 irregular and much prolonged; many birds spend the winter not 



