300 ANATID^E. 



inches in length, by two inches and one line in breadth. 

 The nest is composed of fine seaweed, and as incubation 

 proceeds, a lining of down, plucked by the bird from her 

 own body, is added ; this increases from day to day, and 

 at last becomes so considerable in quantity, as to envelope 

 and entirely conceal the eggs from view, no doubt contri- 

 buting by its effect, as a nonconductor of heat, to the 

 perfect evolution of the foetus. The young, as soon as 

 hatched, are conducted to the water, and this, in some 

 instances, must be effected by the parent carrying them 

 in her bill, as I have frequently seen the nest placed in 

 such situations as to preclude the possibility of its being 

 done in any other way. Incubation lasts a month. The 

 food of the Eider consists of the young of the different 

 muscles that cover the rocks, and other species of bivalves. 

 The young are reared with difficulty in confinement, and 

 being very bad walkers, are subject to frequent accidents 

 in the poultry-yard. Like all the Anatid^ possessing a 

 lobated hind toe, they dive with facility, and remain sub- 

 merged for a long time." 



The Eider Duck is also called St. Cuthbert's Duck, 

 from the circumstance of its breeding there on a rock, 

 called St. Cuthbert's Isle, as well as upon other islands 

 which form the group. " So early as A.D. 635, says the 

 author of Rambles in Northumberland and on the Scottish 

 Border, a monastery was established at Lindisfarn, one 

 of these islands, by Aidan, a Scottish monk, educated in 

 the island of lona, or Icolmkil, who exercised the office 

 of bishop in Northumberland. From this period a suc- 

 cession of bishops continued to preside at Lindisfarn till 

 about 803, when, in consequence of the monastery having 

 been several times plundered by the Danes, the bishop 

 and his brethren abandoned the island, taking with them 



