38 EIDER DFCK. 



swimmers. When the breeding-season is over, they generally 

 stand out to sea; yet numbers are seen frequenting the bays 

 and creeks about the coast. The eggs furnish food to the 

 inhabitants, and the down is bought on the spot at about 

 thirteen or fourteen shillings a pound, by merchants, who send 

 it to different parts of the world. It is used chiefly for 

 making bed-coverings, on account of its exceeding lightness 

 as well as warmth ; a large bed-quilt sometimes weighing only 

 five pounds three ounces, of which the linen covering weighs 

 two pounds and a half, leaving two pounds eleven ounces 

 for the Eider-down.' 



Rennie writes as follows in his edition of Montagu's 'Orni- 

 thological Dictionary;' 'Brunnich, who wrote an express 

 treatise on the Eider Duck, informs us that their first object 

 after pairing is to procure a suitable place for their nest, 

 preferring the shelter of a juniper bush, where it can be had; 

 and where there is no juniper, they content themselves with 

 tufts of sea-grass, bundles of sea-weed cast up by the tide, 

 the crevices of rocks, or any hollow place which they can 

 find. Some of the Iceland proprietors of breeding-grounds, 

 in order to accommodate them, cut out holes in rows on the 

 smooth sloping banks where they would not otherwise build, 

 but gladly take possession of them when scooped out to 

 hand. It is not a little remarkable that, like several other 

 sea-birds, they almost always select small islands, their nests 

 being seldom, if ever, found on the shores of the mainland, 

 or even of a large island. The Icelanders are so well aware 

 of this, that they have expended a great deal of labour in 

 actually forming islands, by separating from the main island 

 certain promontories joined to it by narrow isthmuses. 



The reason of the preference of islands seems to be security 

 from the intrusion of dogs, cattle, and other land animals, 

 to whose vicinity they have so great an aversion, that the 

 Icelanders are careful to remove these, as well as cats, to a 

 distance from their settlements. 'One year,' says Hooker, 'a 

 fox got over upon the ice to the Island of Vidoe, and 

 caused great alarm; he was, however, though with difficulty, 

 taken, by bringing another fox to the island, and fastening 

 it by a string near the haunt of the former, by which means 

 he was allured within shot of the hunter.' 



The Arctic Fox is traditionally said to have been introduced 

 into Iceland by one of the Norwegian Kings, to punish the 

 disaffection of the inhabitants. 



