372 FEATHERED GAME 
on the low, sod-covered roofs of their huts, in 
which the Eiders may make their nests, for 
peace and perfect protection have made them 
fearless and half domesticated. Here they are 
protected by law and the destruction of nests or 
eggs is punished by a heavy fine, for the down 
is a source of considerable profit to the people. 
Some few birds bred for years on the Maine 
coast in Penobscot Bay, and near Grand Menan 
Island, further east, but in both places the 
collector’s persistency (always for the advance- 
ment of science, of course) has discouraged all 
attempts there of late years. Within a short 
time, however, the State has decided that they 
are worthy of some consideration and an island, 
where each year a few have succeeded in nest- 
ing in spite of all obstacles, has been set apart 
and efficiently guarded from intrusion in the 
hope of their colony’s increasing in numbers, 
which it bids fair todo. Its main nesting, how- 
ever, takes place in the northeastern corner of 
our continent, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence 
northward along the shores of Hudson Bay and 
the Labrador coast. Beyond these limits it is 
replaced by the Greenland Eider which differs 
very slightly from this species. 
