154 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



natural conditions the eggs are hatched in about 

 twenty-six days, and the young birds are almost 

 immediately taken down to the water. They show 

 no hesitation in entering the sea, and, once upon it, 

 are quite at home. It is here that they sun them- 

 selves, 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 every- 

 where 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 Shet- 

 lands; on Colonsay and Islay it also abounds, and 

 less frequently in many other northern breeding 

 stations. It is in still more northern haunts, how- 

 ever, that the vast breeding colonies are found in 

 the Faroes, Iceland, and along the shores of the 



