THE FEATHEKED GAME OF NORWAY. 175 



wooden wands. The dust and dirt thus fall through 

 on to a board which is placed underneath, and the 

 process is repeated until no more is found to come 

 away. 



The down is now ready for use, and is stored up in 

 bags for exportation or sale. The whole process is 

 very tedious ; and is the more felt to be so, as in the 

 short northern summer there are so many other neces- 

 sary things to be attended to. 



The unclean down will not yield quite one-sixth 

 clean, the value of which will be about twelve shillings 

 on the spot. Owing, however, to the alarming diminu- 

 tion in the numbers of the birds, no dependence can be 

 placed on obtaining any considerable quantity. 



Formerly, a large quantity of eider-down used to be 

 imported from Spitzbergen and Eussia, but mostly of 

 an inferior quality. To an inexperienced eye, it may be 

 difficult to distinguish between the live and dead down ; 

 but there are one or two characteristic marks which 

 infallibly test the quality of the article : not only is 

 the live down much the lighter and more elastic of the 

 two, but if a handful of it be thrown up into the air, 

 even when a tolerably fresh breeze is blowing, it will 

 adhere together in a compact mass, and not a particle 

 of it be lost, whilst the other will be scattered in all 

 directions, like so much thistle-seed ; or if it be placed 

 before a fire, it will be seen to rise and expand in bulk 



