3i6 
BRITISH BIRDS. 
prettily crofled with waved black lines ; and in 
fome fpecimens the neck, breaft, and belly, are 
tinged with afh: the wings are crofled with two 
bars of white : quills dark : the neck is marked 
with longitudinal dulky ftreaks, and the belly is 
deep brown, fpotted obfcurely with black. 
The Eider Duck lays from three to five large, 
fmooth, pale olive-coloured eggs ; thefe flie depofit^ 
and conceals in a neft, or bed, made of a great 
quantity of the foft, warm, elaftic down, plucked 
from her own breaft, and fometimes from that of 
her mate. The ground-work or foundation of the 
nefl: is formed of bent-grafs, fea- weeds, or fuch like 
coarfe materials, and it is placed in as flieltered a 
fpot as the bleak and folitary place can afford. 
In Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, Lapland, 
and fome parts of the coafts of Norway, the Ei- 
ders flock together, in particular breeding places, 
in fuch numbers, and their nefts are fo clofe toge- 
ther, that a perfon in walking along can hardly 
avoid treading upon them. The natives of thefe 
cold climates eagerly watch the time when the firfl: 
hatchings of the eggs are laid : of thefe they rob 
the neft, and alfo of the more important article, the 
down with which it is lined, which they carefully 
gather and carry off*. Thefe birds will afterwards 
ftrip themfelves of their remaining down, and lay a. 
fecond hatching, of which alfo they are fometimes 
robbed : but, it is faid, that when this cruel treat- 
