THE EIDER-DUCK. 31 



rocky islets beyond Portland, in the state of Maine, 

 being the southern boundary of their breeding 

 places ; but they are only very plentiful in Behring's 

 Straits, Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and other arc- 

 tic regions. 



According to M. T. Brunnich, who wrote an ex- 

 press treatise on the natural history of the eider- 

 duck, their first object, after pairing, is to procure a 

 suitablefplace for their nest, preferring the shelter 

 of a juniper bush where it can be had, and, where 

 there is no jumper, contenting themselves with tufts 

 of seagrass (Arundo arenaria, Poa maritima, Elymus 

 arenarius, &c.), bundles of seaweed cast up by the 

 tide, the crevices of rocks, or any hollow place 

 which they can find. Some of the Icelandic pro- 

 prietors of breeding grounds, in order to accommo- 

 date them, cut out holes in rows on 'the smooth 

 sloping banks, where they would not otherwise 

 build, but of which they gladly take possession 

 when thus scooped out.* It is not a little remark- 

 able that, like several other seabirds, they almost 

 always select small islands, their nests being seldom, 

 if ever, found on the shores of the mainland, or even 

 of a large island. The Icelanders are so well aware 

 of this, that they have expended a great deal of la- 

 bour in actually forming islands, by separating from 

 the main island certain promontories joined to it by 

 narrow isthmuses. 



The reason of this preference of islands seems to 

 be security from the intrusion of dogs, cattle, and 

 other land animals, to whose vicinity they have so 

 great an aversion, that the Icelanders are careful to 

 remove these, as well as cats, to a distance from 

 their settlements. 



Both the male and the female eider-ducks work in 



concert in building their nest, laying a rather coarse 



foundation of drift grass, dry tangle, and seaweed, 



which is collected in some quantity. Upon this 



* Hooker's Tour in Iceland, p. 53. 



