402 THE EIDER-DUCK. 



they are removed, and the nests at the same time robbed 

 of the down; and this is repeated a second or a third 

 time: but it is generally found, that if they are robbed 

 more than twice, they begin to desert the place, and if 

 pillaged oftener, they quit it entirely. 



A few days after the young Ducks leave the egg, they 

 proceed to the water, under the guidance of their dam, 

 who swims with them on her back to some distance, 

 when, making a sudden dive, she abandons them to 

 themselves, and re-appearing, tempts them to come 

 towards her; so that, on the first trial, they commonly 

 become expert swimmers. When the breeding-season 

 is over, they generally stand out to sea; yet numbers 

 are seen frequenting the bays and creeks about the 

 coast. 



The eggs furnish excellent food to the inhabitants, 

 and the down is bought on the spot at about thirteen or 

 fourteen shillings a pound, by merchants, who send it to 

 different parts of the world. It is used chiefly for 

 making bed coverings, on account of its exceeding light- 

 ness as well as warmth; a large bed-quilt sometimes 

 weighing only five pounds three ounces; of which the 

 linen covering weighs two pounds and a half, leaving 

 two pounds eleven ounces for the Eider-down. 



Shy and difficult of approach as Wild-Ducks are, and 

 withal so valuable when obtained, we ought not to be 

 surprised that a good deal of human ingenuity has been 

 exerted in inventing the most efficacious modes of catch- 

 ing them; and it is curious to perceive how people in 

 very different parts of the world may hit upon the same 

 expedient. Thus, the Indians, who live in villages built 

 on the shallows, in the midst of the waters of the great 

 lake of Maracaibo, on the north coast of South America, 

 opening into the Caribbean Sea, practise the same mode 

 as the Chinese. They take care that a number of 

 empty calabashes, a sort of large shell, or rind of a fruit, 

 resembling an empty gourd, are continually floating up 

 and down the lake; to these the Ducks get accustomed 



