150 



NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



approach the river-ducks. They inhabit the boreal regions, and in countries where 

 they are numerous and protected, they are of considerable economical importance, the 

 down of which they build the nest being highly valued. Each nest yields about an 

 ounce and a third. From Greenland and Iceland alone six thousand pounds, or the 

 contents of seventy-two thousand nests, are yearly exported. This gives an idea of 



FJG. 72. Somatcria mollissima, eider-duck. 



the number of these birds in the high north. All along the coast of Norway, where 

 the bird is protected by law throughout the year, the common eider (Somateria mollis- 

 sima), is now exceedingly common and very tame. The inhabitants take great care 

 of the breeding birds, which often enter their houses to find suitable nesting-places, 

 and cases are authenticated in which the poor fisherman vacated his bed in order not 

 to disturb the female eider, which had selected it as a quiet corner wherein to raise 



