326 SWIMMERS. 



foot-covering of a large bed. The best kind, termed live 

 down, is that which the Eider plucks to line the nest ; the 

 down taken from the dead bird is greatly inferior, and it is 

 rare that so valuable a bird is now killed for the purpose. To 

 augment the quantity of down from the same bird, the eggs, 

 which are very palatable, are taken, and the female again strips 

 herself to cover the second and smaller hatch. If the nest be 

 a second time plundered, as the female can furnish no addi- 

 tional lining, the male now lends his aid and strips the cov- 

 eted down from his breast, which is well known by its paler 

 color. The last laying, of only two or three eggs, is always 

 left, to kindle the parents' hopes of progeny ; for if this be taken 

 they will abandon the place, but thus indulged, they continue to 

 return the following year, accompanied by their young. The 

 most southern breeding-place of this species in Europe is the 

 Feme Isles, on the coast of Northumberland ; and voyagers 

 who have ventured to the dreary extremity of Arctic Europe, 

 hear, in summer, from the caverns and rocks of the final cape, 

 the deep moan of the complaining Eider. In Norway and 

 Iceland the Eider districts are considered as valuable property, 

 carefully preserved, and transmitted by inheritance. There 

 are spots that contain many hundreds of these nests ; and the 

 Icelanders are at the utmost pains to invite the Eiders each 

 into his own estate ; and when they perceive that they begin 

 to frequent some of the islets which maintain herds, they soon 

 remove the cattle and dogs to the mainland, to procure the 

 Eiders an undisturbed retreat ; and to accommodate them, 

 sometimes cut out holes in rows on the smooth, sloping banks, 

 of which, to save themselves trouble, they willingly take pos- 

 session and form their nests. These people have even made 

 many small islands for this purpose by disjoining promontories 

 from the continent. It is in these retreats of peace and soli- 

 tude that the Eiders love to settle ; though they are not 

 averse to nestle near habitations if they experience no moles- 

 tation. " A person," says Horrebow, '' as I myself have wit- 

 nessed, may walk among these birds while they are sitting, and 

 not scare them ; he may even take the eggs, and yet they will 



