340 NATATORES. SOMATERIA. EIDER 



riving at it in any other way ; and indeed, the keeper of one 

 of the lighthouses (upon the impending rock close to which 

 an Eider Duck, for many seasons, had her nest, and hatched 

 her young) assured me, that he had seen the bird engaged in 

 this interesting duty. The down of the Eider is remarka- 

 bly light and elastic, not more so perhaps than that of its 

 congener the King Eider, the Scoter, and some others of the 

 oceanic Anatidae ; but as it is procured in greater quantity 

 from this species, the whole imported from Iceland and other 

 northern countries (though mixed with that of several others) 

 is still sold under the denomination of Eider down. From 

 the nest of two or three of these birds, I have frequently 

 procured as much down as would fill a middling-sized pil- 

 low, though the same, when compressed, was not above two 

 handfuls, and did not weigh above an ounce. As plucked 

 from the living bird, it is much more elastic than when taken 

 from the body after death, a fact confirmative of what I 

 have formerly advanced, viz. that the plumage is not mere 

 inert matter, as believed by MONTAGU and others, but is en- 

 dowed with a kind of living principle, and influenced by the 

 state and condition of the bird. In Iceland, Greenland, &c. 

 where the Eider down forms a great branch of their com- 

 merce, and where the birds breed in great numbers near to 

 each other, the natives wait anxiously for the event. The 

 first production of eggs, together with the down, is taken 

 from them, but the next they are allowed to incubate, and 

 rear the young, though a part of the down is from time to 

 time removed, the female continuing to supply it as long as 

 Food, any remains upon the lower part of her body. The food of 

 the Eider consists of various species of shell-fish, crustaceous 

 animals, and the roes of these and fishes. Such as I have 

 dissected were generally filled with the triturated remains of 

 mytili, tellinae, &c. ; and twice I found the subjects gorged 

 with the spawn of fish. They dive for their food like the 

 Scoters, remaining for a long time submerged, and often in 

 water of six or eight fathoms deep. They also fly with great 



