244 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



Not that much importance is to be attached to 

 very, very rare British specimens, so called. Some 

 birds I have been asked to look at have had 

 mysterious histories, but of course I did not say 

 so to their owners, who had paid for the birds and 

 were happy in their possession ; it was not my place 

 to rudely enlighten them. One thing is certain, if 

 rare birds are wanted they generally arrive in this 

 country by some means or other, whether alive or 

 dead. Not for one single moment do I wish to 

 give any of my readers the impression that genuine, 

 rare specimens of birds shot in the British Islands 

 cannot be found. They can be found. But there 

 are tricks in all trades, and that of providing natural 

 history specimens for collectors is no exception to 

 the general rule. 



That heavily-built sea-duck, the Common Eider, 

 is abundant in northern lands ; in Iceland, for in- 

 stance, and Labrador, Sweden, and Norway. It is 

 fairly numerous along the shores of Scotland, among 

 the Hebrides, Orkney Islands^ the island of Shetland, 

 and the Outer Hebrides ; and, nearer home, they 

 frequent the Bass Rock and the Fern, or, as they 

 are more often called, the Fame Islands, where they 

 breed, having at one time been protected in the 

 nesting season through coast laws which, although 

 not legislative ones, were effectual protection to the 

 Eider in her breeding season, the birds being looked 

 upon as half-domesticated fowl. I am not able to 

 state whether such is now the case, as matters have 

 changed in all directions of late years. There is 



