The Old Man 217 



get quietly settled down on her nest, as at each flutter of the cloth of my blind 

 she would jump nervously, either flying a short distance or jumping to the top 

 of a nearby rock. When I walked out of my blind, throwing up its sides, there 

 was a flutter of wings, and every Gull jumped with the exception of the ner- 

 vous one close to me, who was evidently so much surprised that she sat on the 

 top of a rock not ten feet away and allowed me again to take a last snapshot. 



The main object of my search, however, was to find a nest of the Eider 

 Duck which the warden told me that, in spite of my efforts, I would be unable 

 to do, although being positive, from the number of Ducks on land and about 

 the island during the breeding season, and from seeing the young Ducks in the 

 coves after hatching, that they were breeding there. On hands and knees we 

 carefully went through the nearly impenetrable tangle, determined this time 

 to find a nest, and were at last successful in our efforts, discovering in a depres- 

 sion in the moss, thickly overtopped by ferns and raspberry bushes, a nest 

 lined with down from the breast of the bird, and containing one egg. I was 

 greatly disappointed that more eggs had not been laid, but took a photograph 

 of the one we found, determined later to revisit the place. Further search 

 failed to find any more nests, although a flock of twelve of the Ducks, seven 

 females and five males, were lying in close by the rocks, and even came out 

 onto the ledges and preened their feathers in the sunshine. Carefully stalking 

 them, we were able to get within twenty-five or thirty yards, and even on com- 

 ing into sight they were not greatly alarmed, showing plainly the care and 

 attention given to keep them from molestation. 



Some three weeks and one-half elapsed before I was again able to visit the 

 the island, to find the same Duck's nest, but with only the egg-shells of the 

 hatched young. Later in the summer, all the young birds being hatched and 

 able to fly, the island begins gradually to lose its interest to the bird-lover, 

 until, with the coming of another spring, its inhabitants return again to their 

 summer home from more southern climes. 



EIDER DUCKS 



