3904 THE WORLD OF THE SEA. 
tons of eggs, of two species of the sea-swallow. He inquired what 
they calculated was the number of eggs, and they replied that 
they never counted them, even when selling them; but they sold 
them at the rate of seventy-five cents per gallon. By one cargo 
they make sometimes two hundred dollars, and the following week, 
they would return and collect another ship-load. Other dealers 
who arrived from the west, sold their eggs at twelve and a half 
cents per dozen. 
Before concluding, we will say a few words about the famous 
eider-duck. This remarkable bird is nearly twice the size of the 
common duck. Its neck is comparatively short, and its legs are 
rather long. It lays its eggs chiefly in Iceland, where it is pro- 
tected by law. Any one who is tempted to kill a wild duck during 
the breeding season, is liable to a fine of not less than thirty dollars. 
A safeguard is thus provided for one of the most lucrative produc- 
tions which we owe to marine birds. Of the collection and sale 
of the soft down, known as eider-down, Mackenzie relates in his 
“Voyage in Iceland,” that, when his boat approached the island, 
he had to make his way among troops of this much-prized fowl. 
They did not take the trouble to move out of his way, but were 
quite calmly unconcerned, as if they knew they were under the 
protection of government. From the shore to the house of the 
bailiff, the ground was literally covered with birds, so close together 
that the visitors had to walk very cautiously to avoid treading on 
them. The eider-ducks were sitting on their eggs, upon the tops 
of walls, on roofs of houses, even in the houses, and actually in the 
church! When approached, they never stirred, but allowed them- 
selves to be touched, and would peck the stranger’s hand lightly 
with their beaks. The nests of these ducks are round, and rather 
deep; they are built of small dead branches, carefully interlaced 
with moss and marine plants. The bird lays five or six eggs, and 
occasionally, though rarely, eight. Audubon once found ten in 
one nest. They are larger than those of the common duck, smooth, 
and of a clear olive-grey colour, and are considered a great delicacy. 
Every nest is lined and carpeted with down, which the bird tears 
from her own breast, and in which the eggs are completely buried ; 
while around and above them are more feathers, with which the 
