BIRDS OF ICELAND 71 



for they are not thin and quilted, like those we use 

 in England, but thick and almost spherical. It requires 

 some practice to use them effectively, or even grace- 

 fully. My companions have occasionally, when I was 

 getting up for a stroll before breakfast, suggested the 

 idea of Atlas of old days, or of a person trying to 

 balance a huge football on his chest, and there were 

 invariably uncovered limbs projecting here and there. 

 I have always preferred my own rug. 



The Eider is a big and clumsy-built duck ; the male 

 black and white, with a pale green nape ; the female a 

 uniform dusky brown with darker bars. But the species 

 may be instantly recognised (from all but the King 

 Eider) by its large size, and the peculiar strip of short 

 feathers which runs down the bill from the forehead 

 almost to the nostrils. Length 25 inches, wing 

 12 inches. 



The nest is made of twigs, leaves, or grass, etc., 

 inland, and is placed amongst vegetation ; near the sea 

 it is largely made of seaweed, and is often placed 

 amongst rocks and stones. The eggs are large (three 

 inches long), five or six in number, and vary in colour 

 from a dull dingy green to a rather bright green. 



The birds feed on shellfish and other marine pro- 

 ducts. What they live upon up country I have never 

 been able to ascertain, as their persons are sacred — 

 like a fox's at home. The birds breed on islets on, or 

 near, the sea — occasionally on the mainland ; but some 

 few go a considerable distance up rivers and breed on 

 suitable islands. 



