50 LEIDER DUCK. 
warmth, lightness, and elasticity, surpasses that of all other 
ducks. The quantity found in one nest more than filled the 
crown of a hat, yet weighed no more than three-quarters of an 
ounce ;* and it is asserted that three pounds of this down 
may be compressed into a space scarce bigger than a man’s 
fist, yet is afterwards so dilatable as to fill a quilt five feet 
square. 
The native regions of the eider duck extend from 45° N. 
to the highest latitudes yet discovered, both in Europe and 
America. Solitary rocky shores and islands are their favourite 
haunts. Some wandering pairs have been known to breed on 
the rocky islands beyond Portland, in the district of Maine, 
which is perhaps the most southern extent of their breeding- 
place. In England, the Fern Isles, on the coast of Northum- 
berland, are annually visited by a few of these birds, being the 
only place in South Britain where they are known to breed. 
They occur again in some of the Western Isles of Scotland. 
Greenland and Iceland abound with them, and here, in parti- 
cular places, their nests are crowded so close together, that a 
person can scarcely walk without treading on them. The 
natives of these countries know the value of the down, and 
far back, and show great powers for diving. The males undergo a 
change of plumage, and leave the females as soon as they have com- 
menced sitting, when they may be seen in large flocks by themselves ; 
they commence their migrations much sooner than the females. It is 
to this bird that we are principally indebted for the valuable eider 
down, though many others of the northern aquatic fowl produce one 
equally fine, which is often mixed with it. Lemmius remarks, that 
the eiders are in immense profusion on the coasts of Norway and 
Lapland ; when hatching, the eggs are often the prey of the crows and 
of Larus marinus, who drag the female from her nest and destroy them 
or the young. The male, however, if he perceives the assault, makes 
furious attacks, and sometimes succeeds in beating them off, They are 
very familiar, building close to the houses of the fishermen ; the female 
will even allow herself to be lifted from the eggs and set down again ; 
and sometimes a countryman will carry the young in his hat from the 
nest to the sea, the duck running by his side, moaning gently with 
anxiety.— ED. 
* Pennant. + Salern. Ornith, p. 416. 
