216 On tJie Feathers and Doun of domestic Fowls. 



numerous class of birds, and of which three species only 

 have been subjected to the condition of domesticity; viz. 

 the swan, goose, and duck. 



But before I speak of the collecting of these three kinds 

 of down, which are readily obtained, I shall sav a few words 

 in regard to a kind of down which is far superior to them 

 on account of its softness, lightness, and elasticity ; it is 

 the eider down, furnished by a duck called the eider duck 

 (Anas mollissima Linn.), which inhabits Iceland. The 

 following is the description given of it by Sonnini, the 

 worthy friend of Buffon, and one of the principal co-ope- 

 rators in the Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Nalureile : 



*' The eider duck pulls from its breast and belly the down 

 with which they are covered, in order to line its nest to warm 

 its eggs and its young. It is sought for with great care in 

 all countries where these birds are common. It is the softest, 

 the lightes;, warmest, and most elastic of all the kinds of 

 down. Norway and Iceland furnish this valuable substance, 

 which is sold there at the rate of a pistole per pound when 

 pure and well picked. 



*' The nests of the eider duck are in the north of Europe, 

 to jjie inhabitants of the coasts, a sort of property which 

 though free is constant and certain. Each individual en- 

 joys in peace the nests situated on his land, and does every 

 thing in his power to draw thither these ducks. A heavy 

 fine IS imposed on those who kill any of these birds. One 

 man, if his hal)itation be placed on one of the rocks at a 

 distance from the land, can collect in a year from fifty to 

 a hundred pvnmds of down. The Dane.> purchase all they 

 collect. But it is a general rule that the down taken from 

 a dead eider duck is inferior in quality to that which it 

 plucks from its ovrn body." I have already made this ob- 

 servation, and shall here add that it is general for all birds. 



There is, indeed, a very great difference between fea- 

 thers plucked from a living animal and those taken from 

 one which has died in consequence of disease. The latter 

 have very little elasticity; their barbs become malted when 

 exposed to the least humidity. They are attend;^! also with 

 another inconvenience, which is, that though baked in an 

 oven they are attacked more readily by insects, and in a litllq 

 time reduced to dust. 



But this difierence is observed not merely in the fea- 

 thers of domestic animals ; wool and hair are equally sub- 

 ject to it. Wool shorn from an animal which has died of 

 disease is not nearly so valuable as that cut from a sheep in 

 good health. The state of the disease even lessens the qua- 

 lity 



