THE BIRD-BERGS OF LAPLAND. 45 



quite comprehensible. And when, as happens on every nesting 

 island, a drake is to be seen standing by the brooding duck, I think 

 he must be one who has not yet been plucked! ^ 



Our duck broods once more assiduously. And now her house- 

 dress is seen to be the only suitable, I might say the only possible, 

 garment which she could wear. Among the tangle which surrounds 

 the nest she is completely hidden even from the sharp eyes of the ■ 

 falcon or the sea-eagle. Not only the general colouring, but every 

 point and every line is so harmonious with the dried sea-weed, that 

 the brooding-bird, when she has drawn down her neck and slightly 

 spread out her wings, seems to become almost a part of her sur- 

 roundings. Many a time it has happened that I, searching with 

 the practised eye of a sportsman and naturalist, have walked across 

 eider-holms and only become aware of the brooding duck at my 

 feet, when she warned me off by pecking at my shoes. No one 

 who knows the self -forgetting devotion with which the birds 

 brood will be surprised that it is possible to come so near an eider- 

 duck sitting in her nest, but it may well excite the astonishment 

 of even an experienced naturalist to learn that the duck suffers 

 one to handle the eggs under her breast without flying away, and 

 that she does not even allow herself to be diverted from her brood- 

 ing when one lifts her from the nest and places her upon it again, 

 or lays her on the ground at some little distance in order to see the 

 charmingly quaint way in which she waddles back to her brood. 



The eider-duck's maternal self -surrender and desire for offspring 

 show themselves in another way. Every female eider-duck, perhaps 

 every duck of whatever species, desires not only the bliss of bearing 

 children, but wishes to have as many nestlings as possible under 

 her motherly eye. Prompted by this desire, she has no scruples 

 in robbing, whenever possible, other eiders brooding near her. 

 Devoted as she is in her brooding, she must nevertheless forsake 

 her nest once a day to procure her own food, and to cleanse, 

 oil, and smooth her plumage, which suffers considerably from the 

 heat developed in brooding. Throwing a suspicious glance at her 

 neighbours to right and left, she rises early in the forenoon, after 

 having perhaps suffered the pangs of hunger for some hours, stands 



