OIlDEll PALMIPEDES. 667 



numerous than the first. The nest may even be robbed a 

 second time ; and in this case it is the male that strips his 

 stomach, to replace the down which the female can no longer 

 furnish. But in such instances, there are but two or three 

 eggs, which must not be removed, lest the place should be 

 deserted for ever. 



There are places in Norway and Iceland where these nests 

 are found by hundreds, and such places come by inheritance 

 to the proprietors, who, to attract the eiders, form little arti- 

 ficial islands by cutting through the tongues of land which 

 project into the sea. From these, during the nestling time, 

 they withdraw all other animals, such as sheep, &c., to leave 

 the field free to the birds that may choose to fix thei-e. 



Brunnich, who has published a monograph of the eiders, 

 pretends that the ravens destroy their eggs, and even kill the 

 young, which induces the mother to make them quit the 

 nest the moment they are disclosed ; but aquatic birds have 

 no need of any particular excitement to oblige them to do 

 this. The same author adds, that the female, taking the 

 young upon her back, transports them by a gentle flight to 

 the sea, from which they return no more ; and that many 

 broods uniting, form, in the months of June and July, flocks 

 of from twenty to thirty. Abandoned by the males, which 

 do not follow them, the females occupy themselves continu- 

 ally in beating the water, to make the sand and mud rise up, 

 and bring with them the insects and small shell-fish with 

 which the young are fed. 



The eiders are said to live a very long time, and in their 

 extreme age to become grey. Their flesh is very good eat- 

 ing, and the skins are employed in peltry. Their down, 

 however, is too precious not to be a source of preservation to 

 these birds ; and Pontoppidan tells us, in his " Natural His- 

 tory of Norway," that killing them is prohibited ; but we 



