180 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 10-No. 12 



vunluring wilhout fear into the dwelling houses, 

 even into the kileheiis nnd chambers, where, if 

 she tinds a sjwl to her taste, she does not hesitate 

 to lake possession of it. Occasionally she will 

 lix her nest in the oven, leaving it to the worlhy 

 niatron of the establishment to find another i)lace 

 to bake her bread. The thrift of the woman 

 generally gets the belter of her ve.xation, and she 

 lets the fowl alone so as not to lose its down. 

 The nest is quickly built. The foundation is laid 

 with dry grass and straw, after which the Duck 

 strips herself of down and tonus with it a thick 

 soft cushioned bowl. The drake follows every 

 step of his mistress during these excursions and 

 |)repuralions, and looks out for her safety, with- 

 out, however, "lending a hand" in any of her 

 labors. As soon as the eggs are laid he dcserls 

 nest and mate and flies off to the sea to join the 

 otlier males again. Great throngs of these grass 

 widowers may then be seen sailing among the isl- 

 ands, wholly uuconeerued about what is going on 

 <m the mainland. But we shall see how soon 

 they are driven from this careless life. 



The Duck lays from four to eight, .sometimes 

 indeed ten gi'ayishgreen eggs, and then begins to 

 sit upon Ihcm. The Norlliracn have been only 

 wailing for this lime to gather their spoil. Thirty 

 Ducks' nests furnish a pound of down, which can 

 be sold on llie spot for lliiity marks German, or 

 ■17.50 American money. The eggs are also worth 

 money, and are generally sent to England. A Duck 

 colony of Ibis kind is a c.-ipital, the income from 

 which i^ all clear Liain, for Ihe bird feeds itself 

 and cosls nolliimj. As soon as Ihe eggs are laid 

 the Ncirtliinau appears wilh a great basket, into 

 which he puis nest and eggs. The Duck is deep- 

 ly distressed over this unrighteous seizure of her 

 properly, and in her inexpressible agony flies out 

 to sea to seek comfort wilh her mate. Whether 

 he receives her wilh tender expressions of sym- 

 pathy or with scoldings for her neglect of his 

 warnings is still an unsolved problem ; but it is 

 certain that he becomes tender again toward her, 

 aud after a few weeks waddles back behind her 

 to the same bay where .she had been so badly 

 Irealed. She again gathers straw and grass for 

 the new nest; but how about its warm lining ? 

 Tlie new down has not grown upon her in so 

 short a time; what shall she do? There is no 

 mother, not even a Duck, that can not find her 

 way out of a difficidty when the question concerns 

 her offspring. Her breast is indeed bare, l)ut her 

 mate still has his full coating of down, and is now 

 obliged to sacrifice it on the altar of aflection. 

 He cheerfully adapts himself to the unavoidable, 

 and begins to strip himself. The process does 

 not go on fast enough for the impatient Duck, 



and she helps in the work, and both persevere in 

 it till the drake stands out entirely bald. Then 

 he flies away and trotrbles himself no more about 

 wife aud nest, an indifference for which wo need 

 not blame him in view of his own forlorn condi- 

 tion. The Duck herself also thinks of only one 

 thing — her brood. She leaves the nest only once 

 a day for a little while in the morning, to take 

 her bath in the sea, iilume herself, and get some 

 food ; but while attending to these details she 

 docs not forget to cover the eggs carefully with 

 down, so as to keep them warm. Danger no 

 longer threatens the brood from man, who gen- 

 erally takes good care of this hatching to preserve 

 the species ; but it is likely to come from birds of 

 prey. Under these circumstances the practical 

 value of the Duck's simple duskily speckled coat 

 is fully demonstrated. The color of its plumage 

 agrees so well with that of the ground that it is 

 very hard to distinguish the bird from its sur- 

 roundings. It has happened to me more than 

 twenty times to be standing dircctl}' over a nest 

 and not remark it till I felt a gentle pecking at 

 the feet, which the bird gave me by way of warn- 

 ing that I was approaching too near; for the 

 Duck hardly ever thinks of flying from man dur- 

 ing the time of its brooding. I have frequently 

 bent down over a nest, stroked the bird, and felt 

 the eggs without its rising. The most it would 

 do was to snap, as if in play, at my fingers. 



A characteristic trait of the Eider Duck is to 

 have as many eggs as po.s9ible, whether they be 

 its own or strange ones; it is a trait that is not 

 found to exist to so great an extent in any other 

 being. The sitting birds steal one from another 

 whenever they have an opportunity. It is no un- 

 common occurrence, when one of them is away 

 from her nest for a little while, for her neighbor 

 to purloin three or four eggs, carry them to her 

 nest, and hatch them out with her own. The 

 robbed Duck discovers the theft immediately on 

 her return, but gives no sign of concern about it, 

 seeming to say, "We will wait till you go away, 

 and then I shall take my revenge." Her time 

 comes at last ; and thus no Duck knows whether 

 it is sitting on its own eggs or another's. 



The young come out from the eggs at the end 

 of thirty-six days, but do not stay in the nest any 

 longer than till they have become completely dry, 

 when the mother takes them to the sea, which 

 she does not leave till the young have become 

 tired in this their first swimming lesson, and can 

 no longer ride on the backs of the strong waves. It 

 is usually a considerable distance from the nest 

 to the shore, and the chicks are exposed to many 

 enemies in the shape of Hawks, Ravens, and 



