234 
THE KING DUCK. 
I came near them, rather allowing themselves to be seized than desert 
their broods. In size they resemble onr common duck ; their eggs 
are of a grecni^ Q^^y, rather larger than hens' eggs, and of an excel- 
lent flavour. Each bird lays about eleven eggs. The finest down is 
that with which they line their nests at first ; it is of a dark grey, 
and is regularly carried off by the Icelanders with the first eggs. 
The poor bird then robs itself of a second portion of its down, and 
lays a few more eggs, which are also seized; and it is not till the nest 
has been filled for the third time that the ducks are left unmolested 
to raise their young brood. The down of the second, and particularly 
that of the third hatching, is much lighter than the first, and of an 
inferior quality. I was so cruel as to appropriate some of the down 
and a few eggs myself. I had no opportunity of seeing the down and 
eggs collected from between the inaccessible rocks and cliflPs, where 
they are only reached by the peasants by means of ropes, and at the 
peril of their lives. 
The King Duck, as the second of the above-named 
species is often called, is so very similar in form and style 
of colouring, as well as in its habits, to the common Eider, 
that in most respects the description of one applies to the 
other. The dark and light colours of its plumage are less 
intermingled, and more decided, than in those of the latter 
bird, and it has a remarkable protuberance at the base of 
the bill, which the other has not. It is a much rarer 
bird, but few specimens having been obtained in Britain. 
Mr. Bullock states that he has found it breeding in Papa 
Westra, one of the Orkney Islands, in the latter end of 
June ; the six eggs were yellowish white, rather less than 
those of the Eider, and like those of that bird covered Avitb 
its own down ; they were placed on a rock overhanging the 
sea. Audubon, who describes this bird very graphically, 
says that it rarely advances further west than the neighbour- 
hood of the Bay of Boston, where a few have been known 
to breed in company with the Eider Duck along the coast. 
He saw some in Labrador, but could not find any nests. 
Steller's Western Duck (Anas or Stellana Dlspar)^ 
sometimes called the Pied Stellaria, is a rare and beautiful 
species, classed by some naturalists with the Eider Ducks. 
It inhabits Asia and North America, and was originally de- 
scribed from specimens obtained by Steller in Kamtschatka, 
where it breeds upon rocks inaccessible to man. Yarrell, 
