326 
SWIMMERS. 
foot-covering of a large bed. The best kind, termed live 
down, is that which the Eider plucks to line the nest ; the 
down taken from the dead bird is greatly inferior, and it is 
rare that so valuable a bird is now killed for the purpose. To 
augment the quantity of down from the same bird, the eggs, 
which are very palatable, are taken, and the female again strips 
herself to cover the second and smaller hatch. If the nest be 
a second time plundered, as the female can furnish no addi- 
tional lining, the male now lends his aid and strips the cov- 
eted down from his breast, which is well known by its paler 
color. The last laying, of only two or three eggs, is always 
left, to kindle the parents’ hopes of progeny ; for if this be taken 
they will abandon the place, but thus indulged, they continue to 
return the following year, accompanied by their young. The 
most southern breeding-place of this species in Europe is the 
Feme Isles, on the coast of Northumberland ; and voyagers 
who have ventured to the dreary extremity of .Arctic Europe, 
hear, in summer, from the caverns and rocks of the final cape, 
the deep moan of the complaining Eider. In Norway and 
Iceland the Eider districts are considered as valuable property, 
carefully preserved, and transmitted by inheritance. There 
are spots that contain many hundreds of these nests ; and the 
Icelanders are at the utmost pains to invite the Eiders each 
into his own estate ; and when they perceive that they begin 
to frequent some of the islets which maintain herds, they soon 
remove the cattle and dogs to the mainland, to procure the 
Eiders an undisturbed retreat; and to accommodate them, 
sometimes cut out holes in rows on the smooth, sloping banks, 
of which, to save themselves trouble, they willingly take pos- 
session and form their nests. These people have even made 
many small islands for this purpose by disjoining promontories 
from the continent. It is in these retreats of peace and soli- 
tude that the Eiders love to settle ; though they are not 
averse to nestle near habitations if they experience no moles- 
tation. “ A person,” says Horrebow, “ as I myself have wfit- 
nessed, may walk among these birds while they are sitting, and 
not scare them ; he may even take the eggs, and yet they will 
