﻿132 ANATID.E. 



In the localities where the Eider Duck breeds, it is so 

 careless, or rather so little awed, by the presence of mankind, 

 that it makes its nest not only near, but among human habi- 

 tations, and the female allows persons not only to take her 

 eggs from her, but even to touch her without shewing any 

 timidity ; the male bird is at the same time rarely ap- 

 proached within gunshot, either on the water or land. 

 During the time of migration or wandering, when great 

 numbers are congregated, these birds cannot be approached, 

 even by a boat or vessel of any size : the same watchfulness 

 is kept up when the parent birds are accompanied by their 

 young ones. 



The sociable nature of the Eider Duck allows gulls and 

 terns to breed in its immediate neighbourhood, and many 

 of this species are generally found to breed in the same 

 locality. Norway, Iceland, Greenland, and all the countries 

 of the north, produce great numbers of these valuable birds, 

 and they constitute a very important produce for the 

 inhabitants of those regions, who greatly rely upon the eggs 

 for food, and the exquisitely soft and warm down for defence 

 against the cold. The coast of Northumberland may be 

 considered as the most southern breeding-place of the Eider 

 Duck. In some countries this bird is properly protected 

 by the laws, which punish those who molest them with a 

 fine of some eight or ten dollars ; but where the breeding- 

 places are respected, the number of nests increases annually 

 to a wonderful degree, and in consequence the coasts be- 

 come literally covered with the nests of these birds. On the 

 island of Wildoe, near Iceland, where only a single family 

 resides, the place is entirely peopled by tame birds of 

 this species, during the breeding-season. The ground 

 chosen for the nest is an undulating sea-coast or island, 

 the same being scantily covered by low herbage, low 



