guest nights are very grand occasions in their
way. It is on the off-nights, when we are
among ourselves and talk "shop," that we
really develop. Then it is that you may hear
our wants discussed and our wishes shadowed
forth. The service is not popular, and there is
a general opinion among its officers that it does
not meet with sufficient attention, especially in
comparison with the volunteers. Militia officers,
it is said, ought to hold the queen's commission
instead of a lord lieutenant's; they ought to
have some advantages in the way of brevet
promotion; they ought to be allowed facilities for
exchanging from one regiment to another as
in the line:—an arrangement which would keep
many officers in the service who now leave
merely because they wish to leave their
regiments. Perhaps some of these points will be
borne in mind in certain changes understood to
be in contemplation for the militia force. Already
a tendency has been shown to form a link
between the militia and the line. I allude to the
institution of the Militia Reserve, by an Act of
parliament passed last session, and just beginning
to take effect. The main provision of
this is, that a certain proportion of men in the
militia, unmarried, under thirty years of age,
and having attested physical fitness, who may
hold themselves liable for five years, in the
event of war, to be drafted into the line, shall
receive, in advance, a bounty of one pound per
annum. The inducement offered is of course
the chance that such men may not be wanted
at all, and will get their bounty for nothing.
That the plan will work well when thoroughly
understood seems probable enough; but this
season I doubt if it has been attended with
any great results. And it is incomplete,
inasmuch as it makes no provision for officers, who
need encouragement, and would in many cases
be encouraged were facilities afforded them for
entering the regular service. The majority of
these would never dream of making the army
a profession, but on the other hand an
opportunity of the kind would attract many who
have passed the prescribed age for direct
commissions, and—with a useful effect probably on
the line—would certainly popularise the militia
service.

The last week of the training is distinguished
by its most important event—the Inspection.
Hitherto the office has been performed by a
lieutenant-colonel of one of the Guards'
regiments, but this year the duty devolves upon the
newly appointed Deputy Inspector of Reserve
Forces. It is a trying time. Not only is the
regiment made to show what it can do in the
field, but its interior economy is closely
examined, failings of every kind are laid bare,
and the officers of companies are subjected to
a close investigation of their knowledge and
capacity. We passed the ordeal in a triumphant
manner, and were able to entertain the
inspecting officer at lunch when all was over,
without any detraction from our dignity. The
inspection came so late in the training that,
when, it was over, there was nothing left for us
to do but undo everything we had done in the
way of organisation. We have returned the arms
to the armoury, taken in the clothing and
accoutrements, and have paid off the men, who, in their
habits as they live for eleven months in the
year, are fast leaving the barrack-yard. There
has been a great deal of onerous work as
regards accounts, but it is all over; and even the
mess is broken up, for the waggon which has
just driven in at the gate, brings the plate and
other property back into the stores, where it
will remain until next year under the care of
our zealous quartermaster—a model man for the
work, besides being a linesman of distinguished
service—with a blaze of medals on his breast
and a wonderful story about each, and an
additional wonderful story about some
elephants, which he always tells when he is in a
good humour, which he always is. Orderly-room
is just over, and we are all about to part.
Two of us who are on duty must stay to visit
the guard, and the solitary sentry remaining;
for the sentry at the magazine is taken off
as we have no more ammunition. At twelve
o'clock to-night the guard will go, and the
barracks be left to the permanent staff. There
is a shaking of hands all round, a kind word
from our colonel, and we all go our ways.

EIDER DUCKS.

THOUGH the Eider duck is common along
the whole coast of Norway, and may be seen in
large numbers on many parts of the western
shore, it is more especially in the far north that
it finds a home. On those rocky islands, or
"holms," which fringe the north-west coast of
the country, and which form a barrier against
the fury of the Atlantic and Arctic Sea, they
breed in very great numbers, and are very
jealously protected. Not a gun may be fired
in their neighbourhood; even foreign
vessels are forbidden to salute, near an eider-duck
island. For many of these barren reefs, which
are almost entirely without vegetation, swarm
with eider ducks, which resort thither to build,
and render them properties of no small value to
the owners, who collect the down from the nests
for exportation.

The best down is that which is found in the
nest, and which the female plucks from her
breast. It is called "live" down, to distinguish
it from that which is plucked off the dead bird;
and there is an appreciable difference between
the two, both as regards price and quality.
If a handful of "live" down be thrown into the
air, it will adhere together in a compact mass,
even though a brisk breeze be blowing; but
the "dead" down would be blown about in all
directions. "Live" down, when exposed to the
warmth of sun or fire, will rise much more
than dead. Since in Norway the eider duck is
under the protection of the government, which
heavily fines any one who kills one of the birds,
but little "dead" down is exported from that
country. But in Greenland and in parts of