THE EIDER-DUCK. 201 



abandons them to themselves, and re-appearing, 

 tempts them to come towards her ; so that, on the 

 first trial, they commonly become expert swimmers. 

 When the breeding -season is over, they generally 

 stand out to sea ; yet numbers are seen frequenting 

 the bays and creeks about the coast. 



The eggs furnish excellent food to the inhabitants, 

 and the clown is bought on the spot at about thir- 

 teen or fourteen shillings a pound, by merchants, 

 who send it to different parts of the world. It is 

 used chiefly for making bed coverings, on account of 

 its exceeding lightness as well as warmth; a large 

 bed-quilt sometimes weighing only five pounds three 

 ounces ; of which the linen covering w r eighs two 

 pounds and a half, leaving two pounds eleven 

 ounces for the Eider-down. 



Shy and difficult of approach as Wild-Ducks are, 

 and withal so valuable when obtained, we ought not 

 to be surprised that a good deal of human ingenuity 

 has been exerted in inventing the most efficacious 

 modes of catching them ; and, it is curious to 

 perceive how people in very different parts of the 

 world, may hit upon the same expedient. Thus, 

 the Indians, who live in villages built on the 

 shallows, in the midst of the waters of the great 

 lake of Maracaibo, on the north coast of South 

 America, opening into the Caribbean Sea, practise 

 the same mode as the Chinese. They take care 

 that a number of empty calabashes, a sort of 

 large shell, or rind of a fruit, resembling an empty 

 gourd, are continually floating up and down the 

 lake; to these the Ducks get accustomed, and allow 

 them to drift down amongst their flocks, without 



