200 THE NATURALIST IN NOEWAY. 



The Norwegian peasants believe that the king eider 

 is a very ancient bird of the common species, and as 

 the protuberance alluded to above somewhat resembles 

 a crown in shape, they call him the ed&r-konge, or eider 

 king. The food is much the same as that of the com- 

 mon species. The eggs are five or six in number, and 

 are olive-gray in colour; they are rather smaller in 

 size than those of the common eider. 



