CONSERVATION OF THE EffiER 



ble to disturb the ducks is carefully banished. 

 Those who know how to handle them can even 

 stroke the backs of the ducks as they sit on 

 their eggs. . . . On such farms there is a sep- 

 arate building or large room entirely devoted 

 to cleaning the down. The apparatus consists 

 of a series of oblong wooden frames, which 

 may be either fixed in a horizontal position 

 or held in the hand. Their number and size 

 varies greatly, but in all cases the principle 

 is the same, depending on the tenacity with 

 which the down clings to anything on which 

 it is thrown, partly because of its lightness 

 and partly because of the structure of the indi- 

 vidual feathers which compose it. Along the 

 frames are stretched rather loosely, a number 

 of strings which may be either of twine or of 

 thongs of leather. The down is cast onto these 

 near one end, and a spatula of wood or bone 

 drawn briskly backwards and forwards over 

 the other end. The down still clings to the 

 strings, but all impurities, such as pieces of 

 seaweed or grass, small stones, or coarse feath- 

 ers, fall through to the ground." 



Newton* says: "Generally the eggs and 

 » Dictionary of Birds. (1893-96.) 

 311 



