THE FEATHERED GAME OF NOKWAY. 177 



A. sees a duck, he shoots it, on the principle that B. 

 should not get it ; B. acts from similar motives with 

 regard to C. ; and so on till it comes to Z.'s turn, who 

 does just the same as the others, for fear A. should 

 return ; and as the eider-duck is the easiest of all ducks 

 to kill during the breeding-time when they will, in fact, 

 sit so close that they may he knocked on the head with 

 a stick it is not much to he wondered at that they have 

 diminished very seriously on this island. In Norway, 

 however, they have been jealously preserved ; and not 

 only has the Storthing recently passed a law rendering 

 every one who shoots one of these birds, or robs a nest, 

 amenable to a fine, but they are especial favourites with 

 the peasants : indeed, along the whole coast of Norway, 

 where they annually resort in great numbers, they are 

 held as dear by the natives as the robin-redbreast is 

 with us ; and this principle proves a far more efficient 

 means of protection than any fine or penalty. Gene- 

 rally speaking, they build their nests on the small 

 islands with which the whole Norwegian coast is so 

 plentifully sprinkled ; but very frequently they will 

 repair to the mainland, building close to the farmhouses 

 and fishermen's cottages, even under the very doorsteps, 

 as if they knew that they were among friends. In 

 such cases, they become as tame as farmyard ducks, 

 suffering the goodwife to lift them off the nest, and 

 receiving food at her hand. And yet, notwithstanding 



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