250 
ANATID^. 
backed and Herring Gnlls will readily agree that the Eider 
Duck is far too wise to leave first the birds in the nest and then 
those in the water alternately to their tender mercies, uncon- 
sciously illustrating the celebrated fable of the Fox, the Goose, 
and the basket of corn. Even when the young brood are 
directly under the eye of the mother, the gulls are always 
upon the watch, endeavouring by their cries and threatening 
gestures to compel them to separate, yet too cowardly to 
approach their equally watchful guardian, who, with ruffled 
feathers, open beak, and repeated angry rushes through the 
water, in truth contrives to give herself a very formidable 
appearance. It is said, and I believe justly, that the otter is 
the greatest enemy the young have to fear, but now it is on a 
fair way to extermination, by means of guns, and by the 
far more destructive traps.^ When alarmed, the young make 
directly for the open sea ; and by means of alternate diving and 
swimming, soon leave the land far behind. The nest is not 
easily found when searched for, the discovery usually being 
made through the assistance of the bird itself, which flies off 
rapidly when surprised, although she will creep away among the 
heather or long grass like a snake when she becomes aware of 
the intruder’s approach some time previously. Now and then, 
in ascending a slope with my back towards the sea, I have 
seen the bird’s head against the sky, just peeping above the 
heather; then it would suddenly be withdrawn, and on my 
hastening to the spot nothing could be seen there but the nest 
and eggs, and presently the bird would be swimming in the sea 
a couple of hundred yards off. 
The nest is substantial, made of dry grass or heather, some- 
times of both ; often a little moss is added, or dry sea- weed 
* In Shetland the Otter is almost entirely marine in its habits, there being 
no fresli-water stream of any magnitude. These Sea Otters, as they are com- 
monly called, are so large and vigorous as to almost deserve classification as a 
local race of our familiar L. vulgaris. I have never stalked either bird or 
beast that so completely gives the impression of having all its wits about it, 
and needing all one’s own to circumvent it, — not that mine have ever sufficed to 
that end. — E d. 
