224 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



female, is big and well made, composed of dry 

 grass, bits of seaweed, the stalks of the sea 

 campion and other plants, and sometimes heather 

 branches. This is warmly lined with down from 

 the parent's body, gradually accumulated during 

 the time the eggs are being laid. These are six 

 or seven in number, pale olive-green and without 

 markings. As is usual with the Ducks, the 

 showily attired male bird keeps away from the 

 nest, although in the Eider Duck he joins his mate 

 when she leaves the nest for food ; and then they 

 may be seen swimming side by side. Before 

 leaving home the female is careful to cover her 

 conspicuous eggs from view. The Eider Duck 

 is very sociable during the nesting season, and 

 in places where the birds are numerous, numbers 

 of nests are made side by side. Where they are 

 protected by man, these Ducks become very tame, 

 and will allow an observer to stand and stroke 

 them as they sit upon their nests. The young 

 are taken to the sea soon after they are hatched.. 

 In spite of the grandmotherly criticism of the 

 Athenceum, I am going to repeat my opinion that 

 the much rarer KING EIDER DUCK (S. spectabilis] 

 probably breeds within the precincts of the British 

 Islands. For stating that I had seen this rare 

 Duck at St. Kilda during the summer, I was- 

 accused by some wise, stay-at-home-know-every- 

 thing critic attached to that paper, to put it as 

 mildly as possible, of conscious inaccuracy. It is- 

 gratifying to record that my opinion has been 

 shared (in a written communication) by Mr. 

 Harvie-Brown, a gentleman who has forgotten 

 more of the ornithology of this wild, little-known 

 region of the Hebrides than is, or is ever likely 



