124 THE EIDER DUCK. 



has very kindly favoured me, the same gentleman mentions 

 under date of the 25th of April 1885: "A male Eider 

 brought by one of the salmon fishermen. It was a very 

 fine specimen, and had been caught in one of the salmon 

 nets. It seized everything that approached its bill, and 

 watched its opportunity readily to inflict a wicked bite. 

 A nest with young was found last year by the salmon- 

 fishers on the west side of Fast Castle." On the 30th 

 of June 1887, when passing "The Little Books," which 

 are small rocky islets about half a mile to the west of 

 Fast Castle, in a boat rowed by some of the salmon fisher- 

 men, they informed me that in the summer of 1885 several 

 pairs of Eider Ducks nested in the vicinity, and that they 

 had often tried to catch the ducklings, but without success. 

 They said that they had observed a few birds of this species 

 about that part of the coast in the first week of June 1887. 

 A male was seen by me on the Tweed, near Paxton, in the 

 end of December 1874, and Mr. W. Smith, gamekeeper, 

 Duns Castle, informs me that he noticed two on the lake 

 there on the 25th of January 1886. The Eider Duck 

 breeds at the Fame Islands, and elsewhere on the coast 

 of Northumberland. Its nest is generally composed of 

 sea-weeds and dry grass, and as incubation proceeds it 

 receives a lining of down plucked by the bird from her 

 body. Seebohm says that " Eider-down is a highly prized 

 article of commerce, and in some places, especially in 

 Norway, Iceland, and Greenland, the birds are strictly 

 protected for the profit they yield. By judiciously remov- 

 ing the eggs and down from the nests the birds are made to 

 lay again, and furnish a fresh supply of the precious down. 

 Each duck yields about four ounces of down, which, when 

 cleaned, is worth about a sovereign a pound." 1 It requires 



* History of British Birds, vol. iii. p. 620. 



