NATURAL HISTORY of ' NORWAT. 59 



the white of thefe eggs,, are longer in hatching than others, on 

 account of the cold P, tho' this does not agree with my obfer- 

 vations, as will be feen in the following pages. But certainly 

 there is to be feen the providence of our great and benevolent God's provi. 

 Creator, in giving thefe eggs a thicker fhell, without doubt, dencc * 

 according to Mr, Anderfon's obfervations, . in his defcription of 

 Iflands, $. L. i t p. m. zj.6, to prevent their perilling with the 

 cold, which is owing to their being near the water, and the 

 dam's long abfence in fearch of food ; tho' moft forts of Water 

 Fugle live, for that reafon, in a kind of married flate, and orderly 

 take their turns, the cock and hen alternately fitting on the 

 eggs • and when 'tis the hen's turn, the cock often Hands at 

 fome diftance as a watch or centinel, to guard her. Thofe that 

 leave their egg^ and come again to them in the hollow cracks. 

 and holes of the cliffs and rocks, where hundreds are laying 

 together, never mifs their own, tho' a man could not diftinguifh 

 them. See Zorgdrager Groenlandfcher Vifcher, P. ii. c. 14. 



The flefh of certain Water Birds, particularly the Duck's, and 

 that of fome others, is very fat and eatable ; others, from the fifhy 

 tafle which they acquire by eating fat and ill-tafled fifhy are non 

 very fit for the table, unlefs they are firfl parboiled in vinegar; 

 others again are pickled by the farmers, and are very good that 

 way ; by that means other meat is faved, and may be fent to town 

 to be fold. But the principal advantage they yield is their 

 feathers, particularly the Edder-fuglens, Lundens, and Alkens, 

 which are frequent every where on this coaft ; but the finefl and 

 mofl profitable are got in the Nordland diflri&s ; they are ga- 

 thered and annually fent down to the merchants in at Bergen, 



Frideric Martens obferves in his Spitsbergenske Travels, 

 cap. ii^p. 60, that all Sea Birds in the hardefl florms turn their 

 heads againil the wind, that it may'nt fpread their feathers,' but 

 rather clofe them together to keep the body warm. 



SECT. III. 



How each of thefe different forts of Birds are taken will ap- 

 pear in the following pages; and as far as I can find, they are 

 obliged to ufe different methods. But firfl I (hall give the reader 



* Quia ex folo atbumine foetus formatur, longum nihilominus tempus requiritur 

 ufquedum ad perfedtionem five, exclufionem pervenerit, ob impedimentum humi- 

 exfmVt U S ° nS ' qU ° d fentiunt in nidis fuis ' 4 U0S temper in, aut cirea aquas 



fome 



