290 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
enough^ when the females lay more^ which they are allowed 
to hatch"^. They find however^ as Dr. Sutherland informs 
Tis^ greater enemies in the arctic bear^ arctic fox^ and bur- 
gomaster gull. The bear swims from island to island^ and 
plunders their nests without mercy^ but as he soon leaves 
the island^ the birds^ if not too late in the season^ resume 
their nurseries; the arctic fox is frequently carried on 
drifting ice to one of these duck-visited islands^ from which 
he cannot escape till late in the season ; the burgomaster 
very often pounces down on the eggs when they are left 
uncovered^ and devours them. 
Prom the nests of two or three eider ducks [Somatena 
moUissima) Mr. Selby says he has frequently procured as 
much down as would fill a moderate-sized pillow ; and yet 
this quantity^ when compressed, is not above two handfuls^ 
and does not weigh more than an ounce ! In the northern 
countries this down is a valuable article of commerce ; and 
the female, when her nest is robbed of it, continues to pluck 
a fresh supply from her breast as long as any remains on it. 
On a small island in Baffin^s Bay, visited in July, ].850, 
by some of Captain Penny^s party, the ground was found to 
* Dr. Sutherland : ' Journal of a Voyage in Baffin's Bay and Barrow's 
Straits, in 1850, 1851/ p, 137. 
