WATER-FOWL. 



599 



very great labour to perform, as the duck's 

 bill is but ill formed for building a nest, and 

 giving; the materials of which it is composed 

 a sufficient stability to stand the weather. 

 The nest, whether high or low, is generally 

 composed of singular materials. The longest 

 grass, mixed with heath, and lined with the 

 bird's own feathers, usually go to the compo- 

 sition : however, in proportion as the climate 

 is colder, the nest is more artificially made, 

 and more warmly lined. In the Arctic re- 

 gions, nothing can exceed the great care all of 

 this kind take to protect their eggs from the 

 intenseness of the weather. While the gull 

 and the penguin kind seem to disregard the 

 severest cold, the duck, in those regions, forms 

 itself a hole to lay in, shelters the approach, 

 lines it with a layer of long grass and cluy ; 

 within that another of moss; and, lastly, a 

 warm coat of feathers, or down. The eider 

 duck is particularly remarkable for the warmth 

 of its nest. This bird, which, as was said, is 

 above twice as large as the common duck, 

 and resides in the colder climates, lays from 

 six to eight eggs, making her nest among the 

 rocks or the plants along the sea-shore. The 

 external materials of the nest are such as are 

 in common with the rest of the kind ; but the 

 inside lining, on which the eggs are immedi- 

 ately deposited, is at once the softest, warmest, 

 and the lightest substance, with which we are 

 acquainted. This is no other than the inside 

 down which covers the breast of the bird in 

 the breeding season. This the female plucks 

 off with her bill, and furnishes the inside of 

 her nest with a tapestry more valuable than 

 the most skilful artists can produce. The 

 natives watch the place where she begins to 

 build, and, suffering her to lay, take away 

 both the eggs and the nest. The duck, hovv- 



The Eider duck is principally found in the western 

 Islands of Scotland, and on the coasts of Norway, Iceland, 

 and Greenland. Its bill is black, and its plumage is a 

 varied mixture of black and white; the female however 

 is of a reddish brown colour, marked with black and dusky 

 streaks. They generally build on small islands, not far 

 from the shore, and the male continues on the watch near 

 the shore while the female is sitting ; but he leaves them 

 when the brood is hatched. As soon as they are able to 

 creep from the shell, the mother entices them to- the water 

 side, and taking them on her back, she swims a short dis- 

 tance with them ; when she has got them a Uttle way 

 from the land, she dives suddenly, leaving them floating 

 on the surface of the water to shift for themselves. After 

 this they are seldom found on land. 



ever, not discouraged by the first disappoint- 

 ment, builds and lays in the same place a 

 second time ; and this they in the same man- 

 ner take away : the third lime she builds, but 

 the drake must supply the down from his 

 breast to line the nest with ; and if this be 

 robbed, they both forsake the place, and breed 

 there no more. This down the natives take 

 care to separate from the dirt and moss with 

 which it is mixed; and though no people 

 stand in more need of a warm covering than 

 themselves, yet their necessities compel them 

 to sell it to the more indolent and luxurious 

 inhabitants of the south for brandy and to- 

 bacco.* 



As they possess the faculties of flying and 

 swimming, so they are in general birds of 

 passage, and, it is most probable, perform their 

 journeys across the ocean, as well on the water 

 as in the air. Those that migrate to this coun- 

 try, on the approach of winter, are seldom found 

 so well tasted or so fat as the fowls that con- 

 tinue with us the year round : their flesh is 

 often lean, and still oftener fishy ; which fla- 

 vour it has probably contracted in the journey, 

 as their food in the lakes of Lapland, from 

 whence they descend, is generally of the in- 

 sect kind. 



As soon as they arrive among us, they are 

 generally seen flying in flocks to make a sur- 

 vey of those lakes where they intend to take 

 up their residence for the winter. In the 

 choice of these they have two objects in view; 

 to be near their food, and yet remote from in- 

 terruption. Their chief aim is to choose some 

 lake in the neighbourhood of a marsh, where 

 there is at the same time a cover of woods, and 

 where insects are found in great abundance. 

 Lakes, therefore, with a marsh on one side, 

 and a wood on the other, are seldom without 



But that which renders this bird so highly valued, is the 

 celebrated Eider down, used for the beds and couches of 

 the luxurious and the effeminate. This is plucked from 

 the breast by the birds, in order to line their nests ; and 

 during the time that the female is sitting, those who are 

 concerned in the traffic, remove her, and take away the 

 down and superfluous eggs, and then carefully replace 

 her. This is done several times, and the down is again 

 produced by the birds, and she begins to lay afresh ; and 

 when the young ones leave the nest, it is completely plun- 

 dered. One female will give about half a pound of dowrij 

 which, when properly cleaned, is reduced to one half of 

 that quantity. 



