

&41 



'^ 





'% 



4 I 



QUID. 



Hi. 



If of 

 more 



3T. 



Ai-« 



pur- 

 •hen 



tliat 



1 



firs 



4 



i 







.*' 



; .' 



:> 



I 





- t 



.^ 



I 



Ch. XLII.] 



HABITS OF EIDER DUCKS IN ICELAND. 



449 



about hj the new invader. Tlie plants on wliicli tlie deer fed 



o 



numbers 



of tliat herbivorous species, would soon supply more food to 

 several insects, and probably to some terrestrial testacea, so 

 that the latter would gain ground. The increase of these 

 would furnish other insects and birds with food, so that the 



mented 



diminution 



might be permanently altered 



of the seals would afford a respite to some fish which they 

 had persecuted ; and these fish, in their turn, would then 

 multiply and press upon their peculiar prey. Many water- 

 fowls, the eggs and young of which are devoured by foxes, 

 would increase when the foxes were thinned down by 

 the bears ; and the fish on which the water-fowls subsisted 

 would then, in their turn, be less numerous. Thus the 

 numerical i^roportions of a great number of the inhabitants, 

 both of the land and sea 



by the settling of one new species in the region ; and the 

 changes caused indirectly would ramify through all classes 

 of the living creation, and be almost endless. 



An actual illustration of what we have here only proposed 

 hypothetically, is in some degree afforded by the selection of 

 small islands by the eider duck for its residence during the 

 season of incubation, its nests being seldom if ever found on 

 the shores of the main land, or even of a large island. The 

 Icelanders are so well aware of this, that they have expended 

 a great deal of labour 



m formina" 



mam 



artificial islands, by 



to it by narrow isthmuses. This insular position is necessary 

 to guard against the destruction of the eggs and young birds 



W 



by foxes, dogs, and other animals. One 

 Hool 



jommg the coast of Iceland, a fox got over iqjon the ice, and 

 caused great alarm, as an immense number of ducks were then 



ones. It was lono- before he 



sittin 



on their eco'S or yomio 



was taken, which was at last, however, effected by brin-in^ 

 another fox to the island, and fastening it by a strin ^ 



g near 



the hamit of the former, by which he was allured withfn shot 



of the hunter."^ 



VOL. II. 



* Tour in Iceland, vol. i. p. 61, 2nd edit. 



G G 



