THE BIRD-BERGS OF LAPLAND. 43 



flies out to the safety of the sea, there longingly to await her daily 

 visit. His mate is in no wise distracted by his departure, but pro- 

 ceeds to collect twigs and brushwood a task in which she willingly 

 accepts the Norseman's help and to pile up into a heap her nest 

 materials, which include sea- weed as well as twigs. She hollows 

 out a trough with her wings and makes it circular by turning 

 round and round in it with her smooth breast. Then she sets 

 about procuring the lining and incorporating it with the nest. 

 Thinking only of her brood, she plucks the incomparably soft 

 down from her breast and makes with it a sort of felt, which not 

 only lines the whole hollow but forms such a thick border at its 

 upper edge that it serves as a cover to protect the eggs from cold 

 when the mother leaves the nest. Before the work of lining is 

 quite completed, the duck begins laying her comparatively small, 

 smooth-shelled, clouded-green or grayish-green eggs. The clutch 

 consists of from six to eight, seldom more or fewer. 



This is the time for which the Norseman has been waiting, 

 for it was self-interest that prompted all his hospitality to the bird. 

 The host now becomes the robber. Ruthlessly he takes the eggs 

 and the nest with its inner lining of costly down. From twenty- 

 four to thirty nests yield about two pounds of down, worth at least 

 thirty shillings on the spot. This price is sufficient explanation of 

 the Norseman's way of acting. 



With a heavy heart the duck sees the downfall of her hopes 

 for that year. Perturbed and frightened, she flies out to sea, 

 where her mate awaits her. Whether he takes the opportunity 

 of repeating his warnings more urgently I cannot say, but I can 

 testify that he very soon succeeds in consoling her. The joy and 

 spirit of the spring-time still live in the hearts of both; and in a 

 very few days our duck waddles on land again as though nothing 

 had happened, to build a second nest! This time she probably 

 avoids her former position and contents herself with the first avail- 

 able heap of tangle which is not fully taken up by other birds. 

 Again she digs and rounds a hollow; again she begins to probe 

 among her plumage in order to procure the lining of down which 

 seems to her indispensable. But, however much she exert herself, 



