MALLARJ>. 
551 
sufficiently familiar, he walks up to his chin in the 
water with an empty calabash upon his head, having 
holes in it which correspond with his mouth and 
eyes, and serve him both to breathe and see through. 
As nothing appears above the surface of the water 
but this shell, with which the ducks are already 
acquainted, they suffer their treacherous enemy to 
come into the midst of them, who pulls them by 
the legs, under the water, one by one, till he has 
got as many as he can conveniently fasten to his 
girdle ; after which, he very coolly retreats to the 
shore, without disturbing the rest, who allow him 
to repeat his visits till very few of them are left. 
We are indebted to an Arctic bird of this 
genus for a most luxurious covering to our beds, 
which cannot be too highly prized by those whose 
bodily infirmities render them unable to support the 
weight of blankets. The eider down forms a con- 
siderable article of traffic in Greenland and other 
northern countries where these birds abound. De- 
signed by nature to spend their lives amidst the 
snows of the Arctic regions, the eider ducks are 
provided with a clothing of down which no cold 
can penetrate : this, previous to the time of incu- 
bation, they pluck from their breasts, in order to 
line their nest with it; and such is its elasticity, that 
the weight of half an ounce will fill the crown of a 
large hat. They breed in the most northern situa- 
tions ; and almost as soon as the young are hatched, 
the mother takes them on her back into the water,. 
