THE EIDEB DUCK. lOT 



rate, was from thirty to sixty pounds — a great sum in thos% 

 days. These were the See Guiles ^ of which we read aa 

 being so plentifully provided at the great feasts of the 

 ancient nobility and bishops of this realm. Although the 

 flesh of these birds is not now esteemed a dainty, and they 

 are seldom sought after as an article of food, yet in the 

 breeding season, where accommodation and protection are 

 afforded them, they still regularly resort to the same old 

 haunts, which have been occupied by their kind for a long 

 time past This is the case with the flocks which now 

 breed at Pallinsburne, in Northumberland, where they are 

 accounted of great use in clearing the surrounding lands of 

 noxious insects, worms, slugs, &c/' 



THE EIDER DUCK. {Ana» moUissima.) 



The Eider Duck has been long celebrated in Europe, foi 

 tibe abundance and excellence of its down, which, for soft- 

 ness, warmth, lightness, and elasticity, surpasses that of alJ 

 other ducks. The quantity found in one nest more than 

 filled the crown of a hat, yet weighed no more than three- 

 quarters of an ounce; a^u t % asaerted, that three pounds 

 of this down may be coc pressed into a space scarce bigger 

 than a man's fist, yet ig afterwa^ 'j so dilatable as to ^1 a 

 (|aili five foct square. 



