172 



EIDER DUCK. 



breeds in the north of Scotland, particularly on the western isles, and 

 on the Farn islands, on the coast of Northumberland, in the months of 

 June and July. It lays five or six eggs of a pale greenish olive-colour. 

 The nest is made on the ground, composed of marine plants, and lined 

 with down of exquisite fineness, which the female plucks from her 

 body. Sometimes a sufficient quantity is taken from one nest to fill 

 the crown of a hat, the weight of which is not more than three quarters 

 of an ounce. This is a considerable article of trade from the more 

 northern countries. Its excessive lightness and elasticity admirably fits 

 it for the purpose of stuffing quilts. 



* Brunnich, who wrote an express treatise on the Eider Duck, informs 

 us that their first object after pairing is to procure a suitable place for 

 their nest, preferring the shelter of a juniper bush, where it can be 

 had; and where there is no juniper, they content themselves with 

 tufts of sea-grass, (Arundo arenaria, Poa maritima, Elymus arena- 

 rius, <Src,) bundles of sea-weed cast up by the tide, the crevices of rocks, 

 or any hollow place which they can find. Some of the Iceland proprie- 

 tors of breeding grounds, in order to accommodate them, cut out holes in 

 rows on the smooth sloping banks, where they would not otherwise 

 build, but gladly take possession of them when scooped out to hand. 1 

 It is not a little remarkable that, like several other sea-birds, they 

 almost always select small islands, their nests being seldom, if ever, 

 found on the shores of the main land, or even of a large island. The 

 Icelanders are so well aware of this, that they have expended a great 

 deal of labour in actually forming islands, by separating from the main 

 island certain promontories joined to it by narrow isthmuses. 



The reason of this preference of islands seems to be, security from 

 the intrusion of dogs, cattle, and other land animals, to whose vicinity 

 they have so great an aversion, that the Icelanders are careful to 

 remove these, as well as cats, to a distance from their settlements. 

 " One year," says Hooker, " a fox got over upon the ice to the island 

 of Vidoe, and caused great alarm ; he was, however, though with diffi- 

 culty, taken, by bringing another fox to the island and fastening it by 

 a string near the haunt of the former, by which means he was allured 

 within shot of the hunter." The arctic fox ( Car us Lag opus ; Linnjeus) 1 

 is traditionally said to have been introduced into Iceland by one of the 

 Norwegian kings, to punish the disaffection of the inhabitants. 2 



Both the male and female Eider Ducks work in concert in building 



Hooker's Tour in Iceland, p. 53. 2 lb. p. 42. 



