° 1914 J TowNSEND, Conservation of the Eider. 19 



The apparatus consists of a series of oblong wooden frames, which 

 may be either fixed in a horizontal position or held in the hand. 

 Their number and size varies greatly, but in all cases the principle 

 is the same, depending on the tenacity with which the down clings 

 to anything on which it is thrown, partly because of its lightness 

 and partly because of the structure of the individual feathers which 

 compose it. Along the frames are stretched rather loosely, a num- 

 ber of strings which may be either of twine or of thongs of leather. 

 The down is cast onto these near one end, and a spatula of wood or 

 bone drawn briskly backwards and forwards over the other end. 

 The down still clings to the strings, but all impurities, such as pieces 

 of seaweed or grass, small stones, or coarse feathers, fall through to 

 the ground." 



Newton^ says: "Generally the eggs and down are taken at 

 intervals of a few days by the owners of the 'Eider-fold,' and the 

 birds are thus kept depositing both during the whole season; but 

 some experience is needed to insure the greatest profit from each 

 commodity. Every Duck is allowed to hatch an egg or two to 

 keep up the stock, and the down of the last nest is gathered after 

 the birds have left the spot. The story of the Drake's furnishing 

 down, after the Duck's supply is exhausted, is a fiction. He never 

 goes near the nest." Annandale (loc. cit.) says: "It was formally 

 the custom to take away all the down supplied by the female; but 

 this practice was said to lead to great mortality among the ducks 

 through exhaustion and nowadays each nest is generally rifled only 

 once before the eggs are hatched, and then again after the young 

 have left it." 



The same conservation of the Eider exists in Norway. Stejneger - 

 says : " All along the coast of Norway, where the bird is protected 

 by law throughout the year, the common eider {Somateria mollis- 

 sima), is now exceedingly common and very tame. The inhabitants 

 take great care of the breeding birds, which often enter their houses 

 to find suitable nesting-places, and cases are authenticated in which 

 the poor fisherman vacated his bed in order not to disturb the 

 female eider, which had selected it as a quiet corner wherein ta 

 raise her young. In another place the cooking of a family had to 



» Dictionary of Birds, 1893-1896. 

 - Riverside Natural History. 



