124 
THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 
[chap. 
Islands at Horn Sound. When I visited the place in 1858 the 
whole islands were so thickly covered with nests that it was 
necessary to proceed with great caution in order not to trample 
on eggs. Their number in every nest was five to six, sometimes 
larger, the latter case, according to the walrus-hunters, being 
accounted for b}^ the female when she sits stealing eggs from 
her neighbours. I have myself seen an egg of Anser hernida in 
an eider’s nest. The eggs are hatched by the female, but 
the beautifully coloured male watches in her neighbourhood and 
A. 
EIDER 
D C 
HEAbS OE THE 
; B. KING DUCK ; C. BARNACLE GOOSE ; D. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. 
gives the signal of flight when danger approaches. The nest 
consists of a rich, soft, down bed. The best down is got by 
robbing the down-covered nest, an inferior kind by plucking 
the dead birds. When the female is driven from the nest she 
seeks in haste to scrape down over the eggs in order that they 
may not be visible. She besides squirts over them a very stink¬ 
ing fluid, whose disgusting smell adheres to the collected eggs 
and down. The stinking substance is boAvever so Amlatile or 
so easily decomposed in the air that the smell completely 
