2 1 2 Poachers and Poaching. 



and, once upon it, are quite at home. It is here 

 that they sun themselves, feed, and sleep. On 

 a rock-bound bit of coast it is interesting to 

 watch the ducklings paddling along by the 

 stones and feeding upon the tiny bivalves that 

 are common along the bays and inlets. 



These remarks refer to the breeding of wild 

 eiders ; but, unfortunately, colonies of birds 

 under natural conditions are becoming more and 

 more rare each year. The commercial collector 

 has almost everywhere stepped in, and is putting 

 a terrible drain upon this interesting species. 



"Where the brown duck strips her breast, 

 For her dear eggs and windy nest, 



Three times her bitter spoil is won 

 For woman ; and when all is done 



She calls her snow-white piteous drake, 

 Who plucks his bosom for our sake." 



There is truth in these lines every one. In 

 our own country the birds breed along the 

 shores of the Firth of Forth, as well as in the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands ; on Colonsay and Islay 

 it also abounds, and less frequently in many 

 other northern breeding stations. It is in still 

 more northern haunts, however, that the vast 

 breeding colonies are found in the Faroes, 

 Iceland, and along the shores of the Scandinavian 

 peninsula. In Norway, as in some other places, 

 this bird is protected by law, though only to be 

 persecuted the more persistently by private 



