THE EIDER-DUCK 279 



seconds on an average when not alarmed. Towards the end of April 

 they begin to resort to their breeding-places in the islets in the lakes 

 and rivers of Iceland, breeding often in considerable numbers and at 

 no great distance from one another. 1 As the nesting habits of this 

 species have been already described (" Classified Notes," p. 254), it is 

 sufficient here to say that the young are fledged after a period of 

 about five weeks. The males then attach themselves once more to 

 these family parties, and the small flocks gradually work towards the 

 sea, disappearing from Iceland in September or early in October as 

 a rule, though a few appear to winter on the west side. 



THE EIDER DUCK 



The next species on our list, the eider, is perhaps the most 

 important from an economic point of view, for in some parts of 

 Iceland and Norway it lives in almost a semi-domesticated state, and 

 the eggs and down have a considerable value. Hantzsch quotes from 

 a report by Consul Thomsen at Reykjavik, from which it appears that 

 5896 pounds of down were exported from Iceland in the year 1902 

 alone ! From Greenland 984 pounds were exported in 1890, but only 

 653 pounds in 1896. In Norway, also, the trade assumes large propor- 

 tions, and the breeding stations are jealously preserved ; but in the 

 British Isles little is done to protect our resident birds, except at the 

 Fame Islands, where there is a colony of about a hundred and fifty 

 pairs. They respond readily to protection, and it is not uncommon to 

 find ducks which will allow themselves to be stroked repeatedly while 

 incubating, without leaving their eggs. At some of the large colonies 

 in Iceland the males are almost as tame as the females, and will 

 remain within a few yards of the visitor without showing any sign of 

 alarm. The eider is perhaps the most thoroughly pelagic of all our 



1 Twenty nests have been found on one island in Lake Myvatn. 



